Foreigners married to Indians cannot enjoy OCI status after divorce: Centre to Delhi HC

The Centre has told the Delhi High Court that foreigners married to Indian nationals cannot continue to enjoy the Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) status after their divorce.

Foreigners registered as OCI cardholders because of their marriage to Indian nationals cannot continue to enjoy that status after their divorce, the Centre has told the Delhi High Court. The submission has been made by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) while defending the decision of the Indian Embassy in Brussels, Belgium asking a Belgian woman to surrender her OCI card after the dissolution of her marriage with an Indian national. The woman has challenged in the high court a provision of the Citizenship Act - section 7D(f) - under which a foreign spouse of an Indian national would lose Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) status on divorce.