Watch: OCI to Aadhaar to PAN: Complete Legal Requirements After Returning to India

2:55 Can always do that why because when they are present in India and they have the OCI card they can provide it as a proof of identity and they can also get a like they'll definitely need a PAN card whether they are going into an employment or a business part. So once they have a PAN card and OCI card and the basic documentation that would work for both of these things. >> Okay, got it.

3:17 >> Yeah. >> So let's continue and I think we'll start with the next important topic which is the Aadhaar card, right? So let's start with the basics. So who is eligible for Aadhaar card after moving to India? >> Okay. So if a Indian passport holder is moving back and sometimes we have seen that people do not have the Aadhaar card even though when they have a Indian passport and if they don't have the Indian pass Indian Aadhaar card that's absolutely fine they can even get it any time. but in case where like someone is a OCI card holder they do have some regulations to be followed some criterias to be followed in order to get an Aadhaar card beforehand. So what that includes is that let's say if you are coming to India on Aadhaar card on OCI card you need to spend at least 180 days of time continuously stay in India before you apply for Aadhaar card or before you get an Aadhaar card application lodged. So that means that you have to be continuously staying in India. It cannot be that you have been coming back and forth and then you can apply for Aadhaar card. That's

4:18 Not the rule according to the formal rule book of the UIDai. you need to have the continuous stay of 180 days and then you have to contact the regional office of Adar that's where you go you go and you get an appointment or sometimes you do a walk-in and do some wait time according to the time slots available they give you the government they give you the form that has to be filled up and once you fill up the form and do this stuff they take the biometrics they take the iris they take the fingerprints and then they get the Aadhaar card done like Aadhaar card issued on your name and probably within certain period number of days you get the card over there by mail and you can opt for by mail as well as online too. So that's how it works. >> Got it. So if someone doesn't have an OCI card right and if they are non-Indian citizen are they eligible for Aadhaar card? So normally we have seen people getting it but if we talk about the rule book like the 180day rule follows for every foreign citizen but let's say we have also seen in a lot of

5:20 Cases that people do go to the dash centers and they do try to find an alternate to it. Sometimes they do not declare the citizenship of the kid. normally this happens in the case of minors. and then or else you if you have the X1 visa because if you consider the 180 days number of rule then you need to spend like to cross 180 number of days you need to convert from a tourist visa. So definitely like you cannot be eligible to apply for a DAR on a tourist visa. Why? Because the tourist visa just allows you to stay for up to 180 days. Whereas to get a DAR you need to be 180 days plus. So you need to convert or extend your tourist visa to appropriate category and then you can follow the procedure to get an Aadhaar card. So when you convert and do this stuff then you get the X1 visa the entry visa. So that X1 or entry visa allows you to then further get an Aadhaar card.

6:16 But the tourist visa officially that can't be done. >> Sure. But I mean so even if someone doesn't have an Indian background or like a non OCI but if they stay in India for more than 180 days like even a foreign national they are eligible for Aadhaar card. >> Yeah. So but in case of entirely foreign national the X1 or the entry visa is not going to be the appropriate category. In those cases they need to convert to the category that would justify their reason of extension of stay. So but that depends that depends that what is the purpose. So let's say if a person is continuing to stay over here for the business purposes then they can get the extension done to the business visa and then definitely they can be eligible to apply for Aadhaar card. But let's say if a person is just staying here for the tourism purposes they are not going to get the Aadhaar card with the this issue. Got it.

7:12 >> And then the other question I have with that Aadhaar card is like can an Aadhaar card be issued without a local address, utility bill or rental agreement like what are the crucial documents that one should have to get to be eligible for the Aadhaar card. I mean we understand about the time requirement that they have to be like you know 180 days plus for foreign nations like what about the other requirements? >> Sure. So to get an Aadhaar card you definitely need to have a local address. There's no exception for that and there's no alternate to it. So you need to have a local presence and in fact according to that only you can apply for an Aadhaar card at a particular location. So let's say if you're living in Mumbai, you need to have your local residency proof. That could be either your rental agreement along with the electricity bill. That could be your if you have the own house then you can provide the house ownership documents.

8:08 If you have the electricity just electricity bill on your own name you can provide that person can even provide the voters's ID that would work. A ration card would also work. But in case where we are just talking about the NRIs or the person of Indian origin without holding foreign passport then in those cases the best would be the rental agreement house ownership document or a electricity bill if they have it on their own name. So these are the probable documents that they can get. >> Got it. And then also like do people

8:38 Apply for Aadhaar before or after PAN like you know especially with the PAN bank account. so how does the sequence of the things works there? So that's a good thing that both of these processes are not interrelated themselves. A person can get PAN card easily as compared to Aha because we just talked about the timeline that has to be followed to get an Aadhaar card. But when we talk about a PAN card, a person doesn't have to even be here in India or they don't even need to be physically present in India. So that's a very big thing that often people miss that they can that they are even eligible to get a PAN card while staying abroad. So a person doesn't even have to come to India to apply for a PAN card which most of the people miss. But what they can do actually is that let's say if whenever they are planning to come back to India if they have some certain period of time left they can apply for the PAN card right from there from their home country. Let's say if they come to India and then they want to apply for a PAN card, they can do it from here as

9:38 Well. The process is very smooth. They just get the e PAN card within 7 to 10 days of period of time. As soon as they come to India, they can apply for a PAN card. They can get it in 7 to 10 days of time. And if they want a physical PAN card, they can get it in within a month or so to be delivered at their address. So this is about the PAN card. And there's no, as I said, there's no relation for both. So you can get the PAN card first. Why? because that's going to be easier and quicker one and let's say if you want to do both then you can do PAN card and then you can do the DHRA card part as well. >> Okay. One other question related to that is like from your experience working with people who are foreign nations like a OCI holders for example you know who are working in India but they don't have Aadhaar card like you know what are the documents that are required from an employer perspective because typically most of the people ask for Aadhaar card and PAN card you know for you know salaries for employee verification and so on. So from your experience how

10:39 Can these individuals navigate because they're not eligible for Aadhaar card for 180 days and then it might take another month or so for them for them to get a card. So in in in those situations how can they navigate this situ this particular issue when they have to work in India. >> Got it. So in those cases what most of the people we have seen is have been doing is that they do get the OCI card or a PIU card like earlier the people if they had a PIO card or now OCI card they can just provide that as a this thing a valid document along with that when company gets to know that they have a the person own have a foreign passport in those cases they may not make this part mandatory that the person has to provide the Aadhaar card. So they can just provide the PAN card along with the passport copy, the foreign passport or the OCI card copy and these things should be enough. But still because this is a particular question that depends upon the employer

11:41 To employer. So in some cases employers may want you to provide any kind of a particular address proof or any other verification document that is that is according to their policy. So that's something maybe different. >> Got it. I know you mentioned about applying the PAN card while living in abroad, right? Like so does the PAN card like change or do you need to update something when you move back to India? Let's say you applied for it while living abroad like when you move back to India is there anything that you have to update or change? >> No. So there's one thing that the PAN card if you not notice the PAN card the PAN card doesn't even state your nationality. It doesn't even state your address. It just has your name, your father's name, and your date of birth.

12:27 Just these three things are written on a PAN card along with a PAN number. So what does that mean is that there's no formal procedure at all using which you can update your nationality or update your address with the income tax department. What normally happens is that let's say if you already got the PAN card while you were Indian citizen let's say and you were living whether abroad or India and at that time you were Indian citizen so your PAN card is issued as a resident or as a Indian national later on when you became a foreign national there is no particular process using which you can convert your nationality or change your nationality on the PAN card >> understood >> because there's no such field on the question form or there's no such field in the online entire portal and all but what in some cases where the person have to update the nationality at all what they can always do is that they can surrender the previous PAN card and they

13:28 Can get a new one with the new nationality that is possible there's no harm in it but only one drawback is there let's say if you already have a DMAT account if you already have the bank accounts you already have it placed in the investments in at multiple places then in that case the process becomes bit cumbersome for them that they first have to get the new PAN card updated across everywhere. So that's why most of the people do continue to have their same PAN card throughout the thing before they were foreign citizen and after being a foreign citizen. >> Okay, >> cool. And what about this PAN Aadhaar card that needs to be linked like who must link it like is it mandatory for everyone like you know people who are living abroad or people who are living in India and what are some of the deadlines or finalities anything that you can talk on that >> so yes so the both of these things have to be linked together Aadhaar card and PAN card that's a mediated requirement but what we have been

14:28 Observing is that because when we are talking about OCI card holders or a foreign national they don't have the Aadhaar card. So in those cases the government of India doesn't have the particular this thing that they would revoke your PAN card or things like that. but what can happen is that you may have you may not have the full power to use the PAN card everywhere. Your PAN card can be used at some selected places. Why? Because if you are going to use it, if you want to use it everywhere, then it may ask for the Aadhaar OTP, Aadhaar verification and all the things like that. but in your case when like it is not done the verification and the linking part has not been taken care of then those cases you cannot use the PAN card everywhere wherever you want. There could be some restrictions in that. But whenever you are getting an Aadhaar card you can get it done. So there's no particular time frame. Although whenever you are getting a PAN card or whenever

15:29 As soon as you get an Aadhaar card the person should follow this rule and get it updated just to make sure that everything is going smooth. But even if you don't do it that's fine. After some period of time whenever you get an Aadhaar card you can probably link it. but the linking part the linking process could be something different. they may need to do some physical paperwork or something like that. but but yeah it's two way. It's not that your PAN card is going to be revoked if you don't link it with Aadhaar. Yeah. >> Yeah. So, is there anything that we

16:02 Haven't talked that you want to cover especially on the compliance side or the things that folks need to do when they move back to India that they need to be aware of? >> Sure. So, normally what most of the people do face challenge with is that the bank accounts and all. So when a person have a foreign passport, not all the banks or not all the branches have the exact knowledge or may not have the exact bandwidth to get the account opened in a proper way or not each bank in India do offer the best support for the foreign citizens because what has been happening we have been saying is that the big banks the big leading private banks or the government holding banks have been making a different departments all together for the NRI banking or for the foreign resident foreign national bankings like SBI has got their complete NRI sale made up separately SDFC has made everything online and things like that but

17:02 So what what happens is that whenever you come to India you go to any of the bank let's say if if you have an account with IDBI bank right or if you have a account with Union Bank of India then the branches that you go may not have the exact knowledge and that in those cases again they can open up your account as a domestic resident the Indian national resident there's a high probability so whenever you are getting into any formal paperwork or banking paperwork or compliancing things related to the compliance you should always make sure that your citizenship is completely like clearly written over there that okay you are a foreign national and you do have everything all the details placed in correct order and there's no misinformation otherwise these things may later lead to some serious implications from the government departments or from the RBI as well. So that's something that I would highlight.

17:59 >> Okay. No, thank you.

18:01 >> Let's I think switch gears a little bit and let's talk about the power of attorney. especially for people living abroad you know let's start with the basic like when is power of attorney absolutely necessary in India. >> Got it. So power of attorney is basically the document where you can give power to any of your friends or family back here in India when you are living abroad. So it can be done for any of the financial transactions that you may need to take care of. It can be with related to mostly it is in care of this thing when you are involved into a property sale or purchase. So let's say if you have a property back here in India and if you want to sell it but you cannot travel back to India for this transaction purposes or if you do not have any plan then you can give a power of attorney to your friends or family members to whom you trust and then they can further take care of the transaction on your behalf.

19:00 So what you need to do is that in this case you may need to like what you need to do is that you need to ask your Indian lawyer that they will prepare a format for the power of attorney which will have all the details about you. The basic details about the person to whom you are giving the power of attorney to the description of about the property the description about the financial or the financial transaction that you want to take care of. So the lawyer is going to the attorney is going to prepare a proper format for you. That format you can like you can just get a PDF or a word file in US. After that you need to paste some photos. your like your photo has to be pasted. Your signatures have to be done. You need to get the signatures and the address details and the verification done from two witnesses. After that the document has to be notorized and then you have to get it authenticated or attested by the Indian consulate or the Indian

20:00 Embassy in your home country. So let's say if a person is living in US they are living in New York they need to go to the or or they can just do the mailin part they can get the power of attorney attested by the Indian consulate in New York and that's how it is going to take care >> and why it is needed is that let's say if a person wants to buy a property and they want to take the loan so you need to get two different power of attorneys done one power of attorney will be to buy the property on your name which you are giving to your family members first that they can buy the property on your behalf. Second one would be from the bank that the bank is going to give you a separate format that okay you are allowing that person to sign the documents on your behalf to do the loan stuff or to take care of the money transaction. So this is how the power of attorney part is.

20:51 >> Got it. Are there different types of power of attorney like a general or there are some specific power of attorneys and >> so the consulate doesn't specifies any particular category for that they just do not do the commercial power of attorneys but they do take care of like whatever the content is. The consulate never attest or never certifies the content that you have in the document. they are just going to attest the signature of the national Indian national or a foreign Indian national or an OCA card holder. they can just attest that signature and the identity of that person because whenever you are submitting an application for the power of attorney you'll be submitting your passport copies, your OCI card copies, your your Indian origin documents, your address proof in US, your legal status in US and things like that. So like the Indian consulate won't even certify the content but like the content has to be completely separate thing. So the Indian consulate

21:51 Says that okay it is a power of attorney or a will like again they have different categories but not in power of attorney itself they have the different category like power of attorney at test station will attestation or things like that some multiple other documents but mainly for these purposes there's just one general power of attorney that has to be executed. Okay. Are there any like a mistakes or a typical mistakes that people make that makes these power of attorney invalid? >> Mhm. Absolutely. So, there's a like when I say that the content is not being verified by the Indian consulate. That's right. But the Indian consulate does have a specific format of how the person is introducing themselves. So let's say in the first paragraph itself whenever you're writing the information the paragraph should say that I let's say Anwit Kandoi resident of this address in US and then holder of this passport and OCA card. So what we have seen is that normally people do not comply with that particular format of the first paragraph

22:52 Or the second paragraph where they are introducing their family member and they just miss adding some details. The second problem that most often people do is that let's say your US passport or your Indian passport have your name written as Anit Kandoi but your document that is issued in India may have your name as a Kandui because in a lot of part of southern India and even in northern India the father's name is written. So they may write an abbreviation instead of a full name but your passport will have the full name of your father. So people do miss matching that with the passport or with the identity document that you have in US. So in those cases the power of Tony application gets rejected because in in the eyes of the consulate these are the two different people. A Kandui and Anvidit Kandui are two different identities because the passport number that you're giving in front of a Kandui does not belong to him. It belongs to Anvidit Kandi. So you have to provide the details exactly according to the passport. Second thing is that people

23:52 Do miss getting the witness signatures and all. So the witness thing is clarified by the Indian consulate that the witnesses cannot be the immediate family member of the person who was giving the power. So the witnesses have to be any p anyone but not the immediate family member that can be your friends or neighbors or anyone like that. >> So people sometimes do get the signatures done from their own spouse from their parents or from their siblings. So in those cases as well it gets rejected. So once you send the document and now like because the Indian consulate has even given these services miscellaneous services to the BFS global for the processing. So even like like the applications get rejected more often that let's say if anything is not according to the requirements or compliances the BFS does sends the application back and then you have to redo the entire thing and send it back to them or if you let's say if you notoriize if you fail to notoriize a particular document if you do not if if the Indian bank like we have dealt with a lot of cases where people do

24:54 Want to get the loan sanctioned from the bank in India. But the bank guys are not able to give the power of attorney in a correct format. Correct format means that they just follow a form okay that this is the form that bank has given us and you get the power of attorney tested on this document. But in those cases it doesn't work or let's say if two people are involved in same thing people do send one application let's say if me and my spouse wants to get the power of attorney attested. So it should be technically two different applications. It cannot be one application. So we have seen a lot of rejections happening due to this reason as well that they can just make that they just make one application instead of two which is not right because as I mentioned earlier that the consulates are testing the signature they are testing the they are certifying the identity of a person. So if they are certifying the identity of the person if two people are involved it's two applications separately. So that's the power of all.

25:55 >> Yeah. Thanks a lot Anid for taking the time and sharing your insights on this important topic and you know what people should be very mindful and things that they have to complete when moving back to India. >> Absolutely. It's my pleasure to interact with you and your audience. So I look forward if you have any other questions or concerns we are always here. >> Okay. Thanks.