June 21: Indian immigration will accept all Person of Indian Origin (PIO) cards (including handwritten ones), along with valid foreign passport, as a valid travel document till December 31, 2022, instead of an earlier deadline of December 31, 2021, according to a press release by the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC.

“Indian Immigration Check Post(s) will continue to consider all PIO cards (which were valid as on January 9, 2015) valid for exit from/entry into India till December 31, 2022. This extension of timeline is subject to the condition that if in the meantime, any deadline is notified by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) thereby making handwritten PIO cards invalid, then PIO cardholders may have to obtain appropriate visa from Indian Missions/Post.

“All PIO cardholders (handwritten and machine-readable) are meanwhile advised to convert their PIO card to OCI card before this deadline.

“It is informed that VFS Global is the Outsourcing Service Provider of OCI Services, including PIO to OCI conversion, for the Embassy of India, Washington DC and its Consulates in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, New York and San Francisco.

“All the applicants under the Consular Jurisdiction of the Embassy of India (those living in Bermuda, Delaware, District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia) may visit the following link for details: https://services.vfsglobal.com/usa/en/ind/apply-oci-services

Read the full release.