New Delhi, October 23: The coveted Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card would now be issued to the foreign-origin spouses of India nationals and non-resident Indians, declared the Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday.

The OCI card allows the bearer to stay indefinitely on the Indian soil, without applying for a visa or registering with the foreign regional registration officer. In other words, it would serve as a life-long visa for card-holder. H1B Visa Rules: 'Public Charge' Can Deny Your US Immigration Application, Should Have Enough Financial Support to Live in Country.

In a notification, the Ministry said a person, who is a foreign-origin spouse of a citizen of India or of an OCI cardholder, and who fulfil the laid down conditions shall be eligible to apply for registration as OCI cardholder.

Until now, the OCI card was only issued to NRIs, and not their spouses of foreign-origins. Despite long-pending pleas, they were not allowed to apply for the facility. This resulted in frequent registration of visas for foreign-origin spouses of Indian nationals living in the nation.

The OCI card scheme was launched during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention 2006 in Hyderabad. The scheme provides for registration as Overseas Citizen of India of all Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) who were citizens of India on January 26, 1950 or there after or were eligible to become citizens of India on January 26, 1950 except who is or had been a citizen of Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Apart from issuing a notification on OIC cards, the Home Ministry also amended the Citizenship Rules, 2009, allowing the NRIs and OCI card holders to easily renunciate their Indian citizenship to obtain a foreign passport.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 23, 2018 10:54 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).