Travel to India after Sep 30 2018 with Valid PIO Card

[cmanepalli]

Hi

This is regarding my Kid (minor - 5 yrs) and who is US citizen with Valid PIO Card issued in 2013 and valid upto 2028. It has Indian Govt Black round stamp and looks like machine readable similar to passport. (<<<<<<)

Can he travel to India in case of emergency to India with Valid US Passport and PIO card and return to US without any implications?

If not , what is the options to avoid those implications?

[vinniemak]

Hi

This is regarding my Kid (minor - 5 yrs) and who is US citizen with Valid PIO Card issued in 2013 and valid upto 2028. It has Indian Govt Black round stamp and looks like machine readable similar to passport. (<<<<<<)

Can he travel to India in case of emergency to India with Valid US Passport and PIO card and return to US without any implications?

If not , what is the options to avoid those implications?

Hello,
If you have a machine read PIO card, you can until end of Mar 2019...go to the CKGS website and click on PIO in Lieu of OCI card. You will have to click on the govt document which states machine readable PIO cards are still being accepted and are okay to travel until end of March 2019. However, if it is an old PIO card which was hand written, they have been discontinued.
I recently applied in end of Sept for an OCI in lieu of PIO card and got it back in approx 2 weeks, as I had an error in one of the forms ; else in NY jurisdiction, they are processed in a week or so (fastest anywhere in the country). You can check on the CKGS website the approx time for the different jurisdictions, if you are not in NY jurisdiction.

Good luck and let us know how you make out.