• May 20, 2025

Revamped OCI Portal Launched to Improve User Experience

Revamped OCI Portal Launched to Improve User Experience

New Delhi, May 20: Union Home Minister Amit Shah today inaugurated the redesigned Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) portal in the national capital, marking a major step forward in enhancing digital services for the Indian diaspora.

Developed by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the new portal—accessible at https://ociservices.gov.in—aims to deliver a more user-friendly, efficient, and seamless experience for OCI cardholders. The upgrade is part of a broader initiative to modernize citizen services in line with rapid technological advancements and extensive feedback from users of the previous system.

“The new OCI portal has been designed to overcome existing challenges and significantly improve the overall experience for users,” the MHA said in a statement, noting that the old system, launched in 2013, had become outdated in many respects.

The OCI card allows individuals of Indian origin who have acquired foreign citizenship to travel to India visa-free and access certain economic and educational rights. As the number of OCI holders has increased globally, so has the demand for improved digital infrastructure.

Currently, the OCI services platform operates across more than 180 Indian missions and 12 Foreigners Regional Registration Offices (FRROs), processing around 2,000 applications daily.

The OCI scheme, introduced through a 2005 amendment to the Citizenship Act, 1955, enables eligible Persons of Indian Origin to register 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 with Pakistani or Bangladeshi citizenship, or whose ancestors were citizens of those countries, remain ineligible.

With this latest digital initiative, the Ministry reinforces its commitment to building a more accessible and technologically advanced governance ecosystem for Indians living abroad.