OCI Cardholders to require Special Permit for Missionary or Tablighi Work, Journalism

The Home Ministry, in a notification released on Friday has reiterated that OCI cardholders (Overseas Citizens of India) would need prior permission for activities including Journalism, Mountaineering, Missionary or Tablighi work, and visits to restricted areas.

The OCI cardholders have been entitled to multiple entry lifelong visa for visiting India for any purpose provided they undertake special permit from the Foreign Regional Registration Officer or the Indian Mission to undertake the said activities. They are also required to inform the FRRO in case of any change in their permanent residential address or occupation while in India.

However, foreign nationals granted any type of visa and OCI cardholders shall not be permitted to engage themselves in ‘Tabligh’ work. “Preaching religious ideologies, making speeches in religious places, distribution of audio or visual display/pamphlets pertaining to religious ideologies, spreading conversion etc. would not be allowed”, the guidelines said. There are no restrictions in visiting religious places and attending religious discourses.

The rights and restrictions are not new and had been notified in 2005, 2007, and 2009. They were also notified in an OCI brochure published by the Ministry of Home Affairs in November 2019.

Restrictions on Tablighi activities have existed since the 90’s wherein they were referred to as Persons of Origin (PIO). In February 2018, the government had published broad guidelines for Indian visa wherein it mentioned the restrictions on foreigners and OCIs from engaging in the same.

However, due to confusion over some rights of the cardholders with respect to claiming seats in competitive examinations and the push by them for rights at par with Indian citizens, a consolidated notification had to be issued with some clarifications.

This now puts the OCI cardholders at par with Indians in matters of tariffs in airfares, entry fees while visiting national parks, monuments and historical sites. They would also now enjoy parity with Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) in adoption of children, appearing in competitive exams, and pursuing professions such as doctors, lawyers, architects, and chartered accountants.

The notification says OCIs can appear for all-India entrance tests such as National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), Joint Entrance Examination (Mains), Joint Entrance Examination (Advanced) and would be eligible for admission only against any Non-Resident Indian seat or any supernumerary seat.

They would, however, “not be eligible for admission against any seat reserved exclusively for Indian citizens”. This would put an end to the various cases pending by OCI cardholders in Karnataka, where they had laid claim to seats in educational institutions reserved for Indian citizens.

This comes after the Tablighi Jamaat incident in March 2020, where over 2500 Tablighi Jamaat members were found residing in the organization’s Delhi headquarters despite guidelines issued amid the Covid-19 pandemic with the nationwide lockdown in force.

The congregation was found to be an epicenter for Coronavirus cases in India leading to one of the sharpest spikes in the country. As many as 233 foreign Tablighi workers were arrested for violations of visa rules and many of them were blacklisted, putting a ban on their future visit to India.