April 01, 2021
LawQuest Indian Immigration Alert | OCI Cardholders Now No Longer Required to Carry Old Passports for Travel to India
OCI Cardholders Now No Longer Required to Carry Old Passports for Travel to India
The Indian missions in the U.S. have issued a press release stating that the requirement of carrying both old and new passports, along with the OCI card, has been done away with. Going forward, an OCI cardholder, whose OCI card bears the old passport number, may travel to India with the current passport and need not carry the old passport.
Previously, it was mandatory for an OCI cardholder to carry both old and new passports while travelling to India when the OCI card reflected the old passport number.
However, a notification to this effect has not yet been released by the Ministry of Home Affairs. Taking this into consideration and keeping the fluid travel arrangements due to COVID in mind, LawQuest’s recommendation would be to still carry both the old and current passports while travelling to India if the OCI card reflects the old passport number.
