(MENAFN - Muscat Daily) Muscat- The Indian government has announced that the PIO cards can be converted to OCI ones without any additional charge only till December 31. After this, the cardholders will have to pay US$275 to convert their existing cards.

As per the International Civil Aviation Organization rules/ guidelines, passengers can now travel only with machine readable travel documents. 'Therefore, the PIO cards, most of which are hand-written, are being currently converted to OCI ones without any extra fee till December 31,' the Indian Embassy in Muscat stated.

There are many benefits of converting PIO cards into OCI one. The Indian government has extended the validity of OCI cards for lifetime as against PIO ones which were valid for 15 years only. The OCI cardholders can also buy residential/commercial property in India except for agricultural/farming land. They can travel to India without any restriction, and the requirement of registration with Foreigners Regional Registration Office if their stay is more than six months, has also been done away with.

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