OCI - Going to India

K

krishna43

Registered Users (C)
Hi All,

My wife and I obtained the U.S citizenship and OCI a couple of years ago. We are both above 60 years of age. Even though we lived in India for many years and have residential property there, we are going to India for the first time with this new status.
We are planning to visit Goa and other places of interest, travel by train and air during this vacation. I have a few questions regarding the changed status while travelling in India:
1. When we travel by train, we are eligible for the concession rate by virtue of our age. Earlier we used to carry a copy of the Indian passport as proof of our age for the ticket examiners. As mentioned in the Indian Railways web site rules, foreigners are allowed the concession as long as they show proof of the age by their passport. What do we do this time? Do we carry the original OCI, or copy of the OCI or the US passport or the copy of it?
2. We would be registering at the hotels in India. When we are asked to show our identity, the same question arises. Do we have to pay in dollars?
3. What does the US embassy say? Are we required to carry our passports all the time while we are travelling in a foreign country? We are planning to leave the US passports (for the fear of losing them on travel) at our residence in India and carrry copies of the OCI cards and US passports(or only OCI cards at the most).
We will appreciate for any suggestions who travelled to India with the OCI status.
 
OCI Travel

Do you have the Indian Voter Identity card?
I used that without any problems for my identity although it was issued in1995.
 
answers

1. When we travel by train, What do we do this time? Do we carry the original OCI, or copy of the OCI or the US passport or the copy of it?
Answer-I would say Carry original OCI/passport (I suppose it is a booklet attached to your passport).


2. We would be registering at the hotels in India. When we are asked to show our identity, the same question arises. Do we have to pay in dollars?
Answer-Take travellers cheques in dollars and you can get them converted into rupees at any bank.

3. What does the US embassy say? Are we required to carry our passports all the time while we are travelling in a foreign country? We are planning to leave the US passports (for the fear of losing them on travel) at our residence in India and carrry copies of the OCI cards and US passports(or only OCI cards at the most).
Answer-You can take copies of the passport/OCI but then again sometimes
they would want to see originals and wont be satisfied with copies so I feel better to take originals.

My wife/kids are OCIs and recently travelled to India.
 
Thanks for the comments.
We have NRO accounts in India and rupee funds. We would like to utilize that amount for our trip within India.
The Railways rule for the ID says "any identity issued by a Government agency...." in addition to many other forms of identity. OCI is a separate booklet issued by the Government of India, separate from the U.S. passport.
The U.S passport has the page where the Indian High Commission has indicated that we are OCIs.
Unfortunately, we did not bother to collect Voter Cards while we are in India.
 
Do you have a PAN card? It has name and date of birth along with photo. If you have a driver license that also will do.
 
Just curious, if an OCI wishes to live in India permanently, would he/she require to keep a valid passport all the time?
 
s.kumar73 said:
Just curious, if an OCI wishes to live in India permanently, would he/she require to keep a valid passport all the time?
Click to expand...
If one is never going to travel abroad then a valid foreign passport is probably not required. OCI registration card should be sufficient to prove OCI status in India. OCI is supposed to be for life.
 
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