The foreign office has recommended issuing Overseas Citizens of India cards - that serve as lifetime visas - to fifth-generation and older migrants if their current country certifies their Indian ancestry, senior officials have told The Telegraph. Getting countries now hosting these diaspora communities to endorse the ancestry of OCI card applicants will eliminate the legal headache India would otherwise face in verifying claims without conclusive documentation. "Once that is done (the recommendation is accepted), we will have defined exactly how we will decide who to issue an OCI card to." Effectively, that approval will then serve as a bilateral assurance from the other country to India that the applicant is indeed of Indian ancestry. The foreign office recommendations also suggest starting the expanded OCI card scheme with Mauritius, and then broadening it to diaspora living in other countries.

Source: The Telegraph January 10, 2017 22:25 UTC