Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah, launched the new Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) Portal in New Delhi today. The Union Home Secretary, the Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), and other senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) were present on the occasion.

On this occasion, Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, India is continuously striving to provide world-class immigration facilities to its OCI cardholder citizens. He said that a revamped OCI portal with an updated user interface has been launched to simplify the registration process for Overseas Citizens. Shri Shah also emphasized that many Indian-origin citizens reside in various countries worldwide, and we must ensure they face no inconvenience when visiting or staying in India.

The new portal will provide enhanced functionality, advanced security, and a user-friendly experience for the existing over 5 million OCI cardholders and new users. The new OCI portal is available at the existing URL: https://ociservices.gov.in.

The Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) scheme was introduced through an amendment to the Citizenship Act, 1955, in 2005. The scheme provides for the registration of Persons of Indian Origin as Overseas Citizens of India, provided they were citizens of India on or after 26th January 1950, or were eligible to become citizens on that date. However, individuals who are or had been or whose parent or grandparent or great grandparent citizens of Pakistan or Bangladesh are not eligible.

The existing OCI Services portal was developed in 2013 and is currently operational in over 180 Indian missions abroad as well as 12 Foreigners Regional Registration Offices (FRROs), processing approximately 2000 applications per day. Given the significant technological advancements over the past decade and feedback received from OCI cardholders, a revamped OCI portal has been developed to address existing limitations and enhance user experience.

The new OCI portal introduces several user-friendly features, including:

• User sign-up and segregation of registration menu,

• Auto-fill of user profile details in registration forms,

• Dashboard displaying completed and partially filled applications,

• Integrated online payment gateway for those who filed in FRROs,

• Seamless navigation across application steps,

• Categorization of requisite documents to upload based on application type,

• Editing option to the applicant at any stage before submission,

• Integrated FAQ in the portal,

• Reminder to the applicant to verify information before final submission,

• Display of eligibility criteria and requisite documents based on selected application type,

• In-built image cropping tool for uploading applicant photos and signatures.

Technical Features:

1. Infrastructure Modernization

• High Availability with multiple web servers and load balancer on latest operating system i.e. RedHat 9

 2. Software and Platform Upgrades

• Framework Updates: Transitioning to latest versions of JDK, Struts 2.5.30 and Bootstrap 5.3.0 for multi device compatibility

 3. Enhanced Security Protocols

• SSL/TLS Encryption: Ensures data privacy and protection

• Regular Penetration Testing & Patch Management

 4. Process Automation Integration

• Process Automation: Streamline backend operations and workflows

5. Data Management

• Centralize and optimize data storage and access

 6. User Experience (UX) Enhancements

• Responsive Web Design: Optimized for all devices.

• Faster Load Times & Mobile Optimization

 7. Cybersecurity Enhancements

• Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

• Server Hardening and Latest AV integration.

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