What is PIO Scheme?
The Indian Citizenship Act, 1955 does not permit dual citizenship. A person may be non-resident in India but still retain his Indian citizenship. However, sometimes the NRI opts to change his citizenship. Once an NRI opts for citizenship of another country, he ceases to be a citizen of India. In law, there is no difference between a foreign citizen of foreign origin and a foreign citizen of Indian origin. The foreign citizen must comply with several rules and regulations which an Indian citizen need not comply with. Eg Indian citizens do not require visa to visit India. This creates several problems for those NRIs who are not Indian citizens. With a view to assist them and to make their visits trouble free, the government has come out with a Person of Indian Origin ( PIO ) Card scheme. This article aims to give a synopsis of the PIO scheme. The PIO scheme has come into effect from 31 March, 1999. For the purposes of this scheme, certain terms have been defined. We shall discuss some of
