After providing a relaxation in extending OCI card privileges to overseas Indians in Suriname, India is considering expanding the scheme to other countries, including Fiji, according to persons aware of the matter.

In 2023, India announced that the eligibility criteria for overseas Indians in Suriname, a South American country, would be relaxed. This meant that eligibility went up from the fourth generation to the sixth generation of the original Indian immigrants who arrived in Suriname.

The move was seen as an effort to deepen India’s diaspora links. Now, New Delhi is considering expanding the scheme to other countries with large overseas Indian populations, such as Fiji.

Queries to the ministries of external affairs and home affairs went unanswered at press time.

The Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card confers a number of benefits. Card holders receive a multiple-entry, multi-purpose, lifelong visa to enter India and are not required to register with police for their stay in the country. In addition, they receive parity with Indian nationals and non-resident Indians on specific matters. However, an OCI card does not confer the right to vote or stand for elected office and is not a form of dual citizenship. The scheme was introduced in 2005.

According to the home ministry, over 3.5 million OCI cards had been issued as of March 2020. The vast majority were issued to foreign nationals in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. The MEA recorded that this number had crossed 4 million as of early 2022.

The OCI card scheme has been a key element of the Indian government’s effort to deepen its relationship with its diaspora. This has also taken on importance in countries like Suriname, which have large populations of individuals descended from Indian migrants. In 2023, during a visit to Suriname, President Droupadi Murmu announced that India would relax the eligibility criteria for descendants of Indian migrants in Suriname.

“She announced the Government of India’s decision of extending the eligibility criteria for OCI Card up from the fourth generation to the sixth generation of those original Indian immigrants who had arrived in Suriname from Indian territories. She said that the OCI card can be seen as an important link in their 150 year old relationship with India. She urged members of the Indian diaspora to continue to make efforts to maintain their connections with India,” the President’s Secretariat said in a statement at the time.

The Indian government is now considering replicating the scheme with other countries, like Fiji, which also have large populations of descendants of Indian immigrants. The matter is currently under discussion.