The Indian government has launched the electronic Overseas Citizen of India (e-OCI) card, allowing eligible OCI cardholders to complete almost all OCI-related services online.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched the platform in New Delhi on June 30, along with the upgraded FCRA 2.0 portal. He described it as a major step towards providing faster and more seamless services to over 50 lakh OCI cardholders.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, applicants can now submit OCI applications, upload documents, track their application status and download a digitally generated e-OCI card entirely online.
Existing OCI cardholders can also obtain the digital e-OCI card in most cases without submitting a fresh application or undergoing physical verification.
One of the biggest changes is that OCI cardholders no longer need to obtain a new physical OCI booklet after renewing their passport beyond the age of 20. They only need to update their passport details through the online portal.
Government officials said the new system is expected to reduce processing time to around 15 working days, compared to the earlier six-to-eight weeks.
The platform is hosted on the government's MeghRaj cloud infrastructure and includes Aadhaar-based authentication, e-sign facilities and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology for document verification.
According to the Home Ministry, these features will improve data security, reduce administrative costs and enable faster verification at immigration checkpoints.
The e-OCI platform has been introduced under the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2026, as part of the government's broader push to digitise citizen and immigration services.
Launched in 2005, the OCI scheme provides lifelong visa and residency benefits to eligible Persons of Indian Origin while allowing them to retain their foreign citizenship. However, Indian law does not permit dual citizenship.
At the same event, Amit Shah also launched the FCRA 2.0 portal, which digitises applications, renewals and annual filings for nearly 14,500 organisations registered under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act.
The government said the upgraded portal is aimed at simplifying compliance while improving transparency and efficiency in regulating foreign contributions.
