The euphoria among the Indian community in the US over the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is now over and it’s time to take stock of what his policy announcements really mean for them. To start with, a difference between non-resident Indians, overseas citizens of India and people of Indian origin – or NRIs, OCIs and PIOs – needs to be clear. The PM’s announcement about a lifetime visa and exemption of registration with police authorities during long-term stays in India for PIOs followed by the home ministry notification on the subject now ensures that PIOs, who are foreign citizens of Indian origin or their spouses, will have the same benefits as overseas citizens of India (OCIs), who have at some time been citizens of India. This, along with Mr Modi’s other related announcement on the merger of the two cards, was not surprisingly greeted with huge cheering from the PIO community in America, many of whom were present at Madison Square Garden to listen to his speech. “Prime Minister Modi has avoided the confusion between the two cards and the lifelong visa announcement will now provide freedom to the PIOs from having to deal with the long, arduous, expensive and often frustrating process of availing themselves of Indian consular services,” says Sanjay Puri, chairman of the US Indian Political Action Committee. British parliamentarian and entrepreneur Karan Bilimoria, who is a member of the Prime Minister’s Global Advisory Council, too, is upbeat about the announcement on merging the PIO & OCI schemes. “I had put up this proposal to the Indian government a couple of years back and we had discussed the merger of the two cards as a step towards streamlining the scheme,” he said. And while the strong policy direction by PM Modi is being welcomed by the PIO community around the world, there are some details and clarifications that still need to be ironed out. “The previous Indian government had also proposed to combine the PIO and OCI schemes as has now been announced by PM Modi. But we have made some suggestions to the Indian government about the merged card and hope that those will be looked into before the final policy change is announced,” says Ashook Ramsaran, president of the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (Gopio), who is a PIO himself. Gopio had, in fact, submitted its detailed suggestions to Kiren Rijiju, Union minister of state for home affairs, when he visited New York earlier in September. “The new OCI card should ensure uniformity for everyone and address the problem of requirement of reissuance when passports of the holders are renewed after they turn 20 and 50 years of age,” adds Ramsaran. The other big problem that many PIOs face is of obtaining original documents to support their applications when applying for PIO cards. “The new combined scheme of OCI and PIO cards should take into account the emotional quotient for the Indian community overseas. It will take some time before ministries of home affairs, external affairs and overseas Indian affairs agree on the different aspects of the new card and we hope that the Indian government will invite us for our suggestions,” says Munish Gupta, director for liaison with the Indian government for Gopio. But unlike the PIOs, the NRIs in the US who are there on work permits are disappointed because immigration issues were not discussed between PM Modi and US President Barack Obama. “The US Senate’s immigration reform Bill has a few provisions that would hurt India’s IT industry. These were not discussed between the two leaders which is somewhat disappointing for the Indians living in the US on work permit visas such as H1Bs and L1s,” says Chicago businessman Shalabh Shalli Kumar, founder of the National Indian American Public Policy Institute, a think tank. New Jersey-based filmmaker Meghna Damani, too, is disappointed that the issue of employment for dependent spouses of H1B visa holders was not brought up. “The department of homeland security’s proposed Bill to allow employment for certain dependent spouses is currently under review. It would have been very helpful for thousands of women on H4 visas if the Indian PM had discussed this issue with President Obama,” she said.
Source: The Economic Times
