Mixed-Nationality Families: Who Needs What to Enter India

Immigration in India looks at each traveller separately, so a family of four can arrive with four different sets of papers. Everyone, Indian citizens included, is cleared by immigration on arrival and again on departure.

• Indian citizens travel on an Indian passport. An Indian passport is issued only to an Indian citizen, so a family member who has taken another nationality cannot use one.
• OCI cardholders are foreign nationals. The Ministry of Home Affairs calls the OCI card a multiple-entry, lifelong visa; the foreign passport stays the primary travel document, and both must be valid and carried. The e-OCI, a digital copy downloaded free from the OCI portal, may be shown at immigration and to airlines, but it does not replace the physical card.
• Everyone else needs a visa. The e-Visa covers a holiday or a visit to relatives, and it is issued to each person on their own passport: a child written into a parent's passport cannot get one. Our India e-Visa guide covers the types and how to apply, and OCI or e-Visa helps you choose between the two.
• The e-Arrival Card is required of every foreign national, OCI cardholders included. It is free and is filed within the 72 hours before landing, on indianvisaonline.gov.in, on boi.gov.in or in the official Indian Visa Su-Swagatam app. Our e-Arrival Card guide walks through it.

A spouse of foreign origin of an Indian citizen, or of an OCI cardholder, can register as an OCI cardholder once the marriage has been registered and has lasted at least two continuous years before the application. The Ministry of Home Affairs adds a prior security clearance, and it asks for the registered marriage certificate (apostilled or attested if issued abroad) and a declaration from the Indian or OCI spouse to surrender the card in case of divorce, separation or the foreign spouse's death.

Two conditions catch families out. No one is eligible if they, a parent, a grandparent or a great-grandparent is or was a citizen of Pakistan, Bangladesh or another country the government notifies, and the ministry asks for apostilled birth certificates of the spouse's parents and grandparents to show this. And since 3 September 2025, a card issued on the basis of marriage has an initial validity of five years, which can be extended to lifelong after scrutiny, according to the Bureau of Immigration.

Before the two years are up, the foreign spouse travels on a visa. The Entry (X-1) visa is the category for the foreign spouse and foreign children of an Indian citizen, a person of Indian origin or an OCI cardholder. The e-Visa portal also lists an e-Miscellaneous visa for the e-Entry purpose, valid for three months from first entry with multiple entries, applied for with the Indian spouse's passport or the OCI spouse's card and the marriage certificate. For a short holiday, an e-Tourist visa is the simpler route.

A minor child whose parents are both Indian citizens, or one of whom is, is eligible for OCI, as is a minor child of a person of Indian origin who qualifies. The application needs the child's birth certificate, the parents' marriage certificate and proof of the Indian parent's citizenship, such as a copy of their Indian passport.

India does not provide for dual citizenship. The Bureau of Immigration states that a minor cannot hold another country's passport while holding an Indian one, so a child travels either as an Indian citizen or as a foreign national with an OCI card or a visa, never both.

Three rules about children save trouble later:

• Under-12s are exempt from the OCI personal interview, and applicants under 12 or over 70 from biometrics.
• The card must be reissued once, when a new passport is issued after the holder turns 20. For each new passport before that, the holder uploads a copy and a recent photograph on the OCI portal within three months, free of charge.
• If a parent gives up their own OCI card, a minor child registered through that parent ceases to be an OCI cardholder too, and so does a spouse registered on the basis of the marriage.

An Indian citizen who takes another nationality must surrender the Indian passport and receive a surrender or renunciation certificate. The Bureau of Immigration warns that holding or travelling on an Indian passport after acquiring foreign citizenship, beyond a grace period of three months, is an offence under the Passports Act. The surrender certificate is then one of the documents for an OCI application.

The Person of Indian Origin card scheme has been withdrawn and merged into OCI. Anyone still holding a PIO card should apply for an OCI card on ociservices.gov.in; the Bureau of Immigration describes this as a conversion, while the OCI portal's own answers ask for a fresh application, so follow what the portal asks of you when you apply.

The Fast Track Immigration - Trusted Traveller Programme lets Indian nationals and OCI cardholders clear immigration at e-gates, which run at 14 airports including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad. Enrolment is free, needs biometrics given at an airport or an FRRO office, and can take up to a month. Children under seven cannot enrol, and those aged 7 to 18 are registered with a parent's email address and phone number. A family member travelling on a visa is not eligible, so agree where to meet after immigration. For staying beyond a holiday, see our page on long stays and FRRO registration.