What is the first thing that you are worrying about when you want to travel? Perhaps you will answer passports, but you should not forget another one—that is the visa. You will also need to have a visa in order for you to travel to other countries, and I will explain more about it here.

Visa is basically a permission from a country for you to travel to his country—and to stay in his country legal. After all, the land on the country is the property on it, and if you are not a citizen or a subject (in case of a country with a monarchy), you can not stay on those land without permission—and if you do, this is actually a trespass in traditional sense. Therefore, you will need a permission from the government of that country—technically the landlord, to say that OK, you can stay on this land for a period of time.

The document showing that permission, is the visa we are talking about. In a lot of countries travelling between them do not need a visa—and whether or not this is possible depends on the relationship between the countries. For example, among the member states of the European Union, travelling does not need any visas.

However, you will still need your passport. A passport is a little bit different from a visa, which is issued from the destination country. On the other hand, a passport is a document issued by your home country to prove that you are the citizen of that country. This is an essential document for you to travel to any country no matter whether you need a visa or not. Therefore, before applying for Visa to India for US Citizens, you should check whether you have a passport or not.

In particular, you should pay attention to the expiry date of the passport, as it is not forever. If your passport is already expired, you will not be able to leave your home country, and let alone entering India. Therefore, check the expiry date, and in case you need to, apply for a renew. 

After doing that, you are ready to apply for the visa needed for visiting to India. It is actually not that difficult since with the advancement of technology, you can now do everything online. You can also apply this type of visa online too. Just fill in all the personal information required and then pay for the application. After that, just wait for it to get approved and you will be able to obtain your visa. 

All you need to know is that it is impossible for you to get a visa on-spot after you get off the airplane in India. They will not permit this and the result for this is that you will need to go back to America. Therefore, do not ignore all the procedures required to India Visa for US Citizen and duly applied for a visa if you want to travel to India.  

What is OCI Card?

OCI is a lifelong visa for the non-resident India which gives unlimited entry to India and does not require the visa in the lifetime. The OCI you can get if your spouse, parents or your grandparents stay in India or has the Indian passport. With the help of the OCI card, you can get your education as well as employment without any visa. Well, the right which a normal citizen of India has you will not get such as the voting; participate in the election or many others. Just remember that there is no dual citizen concept in the India so you are not allowed to carry Indian citizenship with any other citizenship.

Who can apply for OCI?

Origin of India but citizen of another country than you can apply for OCI

Parents are from India but new born child is in another country.

If you can give the India citizen and passport of another country, then you are eligible to apply for OCI.

But there are some restrictions and terms and conditions being the application. But the basic difference between OCI and visa is that OCI is life-long but the visa is for a limited period.

Advantages of OCI Card:

•Give lifelong visa to India
•Provide lifelong validity just you need to update the passport number when you renew it
•No requirement to appear before the police during your stay in the India
•NRI quota is submitted as the proof in India
•Easily work and study in the India

How to Apply for OCI Card with Traversal Visa? 

Initial Registration Process: 

•Firstly you need to login to the official website and fill up the necessary details which include applicants and parents details.
•Also, submit the details of the passport.•Attach the documents required such as applicant form, photocopy of applicant passport, two photographs, proof of Indian origin, certificate of naturalization and proof of the relationship with parents or grandparents

Submission of documents: 

•Submit the application form as well as the necessary documents at appropriate center•You can also go through online process for the submission
•The payment of the fees can be done online too. 

Track the Status:

This process is very simple as well as easy. For tracking, you need to submit the reference number and passport details. The basic time taken for the verification is 8 to 10 weeks. After the verification also a direct message has been sent to the applicant on his mobile and the OCI card is sent to address the post.

Hope this article may help you get the knowledge about the OCI card services as well as cleared about the process being done for the OCI card/ Just consider all these things and apply for the OCI card if you have the origin of the India and want to stay in the India forever for your education or as per your employment or need. You can simply follow the steps given and can easily get the card!