New Delhi, May 19 (UNI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday launched the new Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) Portal here.

Shah said that, a revamped OCI portal with an updated user interface will simplify the registration process for Overseas Citizens, a Home Ministry statement said.

He also emphasised that many Indian-origin citizens reside in various countries worldwide, and we must ensure they face no inconvenience when visiting or staying in India.

The new portal will provide enhanced functionality, advanced security, and a user-friendly experience for the existing over five million OCI cardholders and new users. The new OCI portal is available at the existing URL: : https://ociservices.gov.in.

The OCI scheme was introduced through an amendment to the Citizenship Act, 1955, in 2005. The scheme provisions the registration of Persons of Indian Origin as Overseas Citizens of India, provided they were citizens of India on or after January 26, 1950, or were eligible to become citizens on that date.

However, individuals who are or had been or whose parent or grandparent or great grandparent citizens of Pakistan or Bangladesh are not eligible.

The existing OCI services portal was developed in 2013 and is currently operational in over 180 Indian missions abroad as well as 12 Foreigners Regional Registration Offices (FRROs), processing approximately 2000 applications per day.

Given the significant technological advancements over the past decade and feedback received from OCI cardholders, a revamped OCI portal has been developed to address existing limitations and enhance user experience.

The new OCI portal introduces several user-friendly features, including user sign-up and segregation of registration menu, auto-fill of user profile details in registration forms, dashboard displaying completed and partially filled applications, integrated online payment gateway for those who filed in FRROs and in-built image cropping tool for uploading applicant photos and signatures.

Present on the occasion were Union Home Secretary, Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), and other senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). UNI RBE SSP