No changes have been made to the overseas citizenship of India (OCI) rules, the Consulate General of India, New York has clarified.
In a post on X, the Consulate General's office said "We have come across news reports spreading false information that restrictions have been placed on OCI card holders in the recent past. Friends in the Indian American community are hereby informed that no new change has been introduced in the recent past for OCI card holders. Provisions of Gazette Notification http://F.No. 26011/CC/05/2018-OCI dated March 4, 2021 regarding rights of OCI cardholders continue to remain in force."
Many in the global Indian community, who are around 32 million strong, had expressed their concerns over the rules and said they were worried that they were losing a lot of their privileges.
Addressing this, the @IndiainNewYork page of the Consulate General linked to the FAQ page to emphasise that the rules had not changed.
They also highlighted and shared the Gazette notification with their tweet.
(This is an update to an older story that had highlighted the concerns and fears of those in the Indian diaspora who felt the new rules had taken away many of their privileges.)