(6) The OCI card shall be issued by the Indian Mission/ Post/ FRRO
concerned within the jurisdiction of the applicant‟s place of
residence. The applicant will have to approach the Indian Mission/
Post/ FRRO concerned only for collecting the OCI Card by
surrendering the PIO card.
4. Procedure for granting Registration:
(1) In all cases, other than the application submitted as a spouse of
foreign origin of a citizen of India or spouse of foreign origin of an
OCI Cardholder and by erstwhile PIO cardholders with valid PIO
cards as on 9.1.2015, the security agencies shall upload their
comments/ clearance on the online system after verification of the
antecedents of the applicant within 20 days from the date of
acknowledgement of the application. If the comments/ clearance of
security agencies are not uploaded within 20 days of the date of
acknowledgement of the application, the Indian Mission/Post/ FRRO
concerned shall register a person as an OCI Cardholder within 30
days of the date of acknowledgement if there is no adverse
information available against the applicant after preliminary scrutiny.
However, If during the verification subsequently, any adverse
information comes to the knowledge of the Ministry of Home Affairs,
the registration as an OCI Cardholder already granted by the Indian
Mission/ Post/ FRRO concerned shall be cancelled by an order
under section 7D of the Citizenship Act, 1955.
Further, if there is any adverse information against the applicant
after preliminary scrutiny by the Indian Mission/Post/ FRRO
concerned, prior approval of the Ministry of Home Affairs shall be
required before grant of registration. The Ministry of Home Affairs
may approve or reject the grant of registration within 120 days from
the date of the receipt of the application. If the grant of registration
as an OCI Cardholder is approved by the MHA, the Indian
Mission/Post/ FRRO concerned shall register the person as an OCI
Cardholder.
(2) In the case of application submitted as a spouse of foreign origin of a
citizen of India or spouse of foreign origin of an OCI Cardholder, the
person shall be registered as an OCI Cardholder only after prior
clearance of the Ministry of Home Affairs (Foreigners Division) in
terms of the proviso to clause (d) of sub-section (1) of section 7A of
the Citizenship Act, 1955 as incorporated by the Citizenship
(Amendment) Act, 2015 notified on 10th March, 2015. In all such
cases, the security agencies shall furnish their comments/ clearance
on the online system within 21 days of acknowledgement of the
application online and the final comments/ clearance of the Ministry
of Home Affairs (Foreigners Division) shall be uploaded on the online
system within 30 days of acknowledgement of the application.
However, in case any of the security agencies feel that a detailed
enquiry is necessary in a particular case and that their comments/
clearance cannot be given within 21 days, they should keep such
application „On Hold‟ on the online system. After completion of the
enquiry, the status shall be modified by the security agency
concerned.
In the case of applications submitted by erstwhile PIO cardholders
with valid PIO cards as on 9.1.2015, the Mission/ Post/ FRRO