(a) whether it is a fact that a number of applications of the Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) are lying pending with the High Commissions of India abroad;
(b) if so, the details thereof for the last four years, year-wise and the reasons therefor; and
(c) the details of OCI status given to the applicants during the said period?
THE MINISTER OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
(SHRIMATI SUSHMA SWARAJ)
(a) to (c) A Statement is laid on the table of the House.
*****
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (c) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.301 REGARDING “OVERSEAS CITIZENS OF INDIA” FOR ANSWER ON 08.08.2018
(a) Yes, there are some Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card applications pending with some of our Embassies/High Commissions/Consulates abroad, while most of our Missions/Posts have no pending applications of OCI card applicants. The number of pending applications at some of our Missions/Posts issuing large number of OCI cards have reduced significantly during the last few years.
(b) The number of OCI card applications pending with our Embassies/High Commissions/Consulates abroad, year-wise, for the last four years are given in the following table:
Year Number of normal OCI card applications pending Number of spouse-based OCI card applications pending
2014 1321 0
2015 436 35
2016 375 66
2017 472 475
The OCI card applications are pending at our Embassies/High commissions/ Consulates for various reasons, including those that require action at the end of the applicants. Most of the OCI card applications are pending on account of incomplete documentation or non-submission of certain mandatory documents by the OCI card applicants. Our Embassies/ High Commissions/ Consulates abroad continue to follow up with the applicants, to seek necessary documents/information for clearing the pendency. However, in several instances, the applicants could not be contacted or the applicants do not contact the respective Embassy/ High Commision/ Consulate for long periods thus resulting in pendency. Some of the applications are pending on grounds of technical rejection. The pendency in case of spouse-based OCI card applications is mainly because of non furnishing of necessary documents by the applicants, such as apostilled Marriage Certificate, passport details and native details of the foreign spouse. Applications which are put on hold because of pending security clearances by the security agencies, are also included in the table above.
(c) The year-wise details of OCI cards issued during the last four years are given in the following table:
Year Number of OCI Cards issued Number of OCI Cards issued in-lieu of PIO cards
2014 220859 0
2015 329725 60830
2016 410150 156841
2017 399915 114590
*****