Finally the much awaited relief for NRI’s & OCI’s

Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) do not have to link their bank accounts, PAN or SIM cards with Aadhaar card, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has reiterated.

On their official Twitter account, UIDAI, the authority for issuing the biometrics-based Aadhaar cards, has retweeted a statement from official Digital India Twitter account.

“NRI/OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) are not eligible to obtain Aadhaar as per the Aadhaar Act and hence are fully exempted to produce Aadhaar for any verification,” the tweet said.

“NRI/OCI need not verify their bank account or SIM or PAN with Aadhaar. If required, they may inform the service provider(s) that they being NRI/OCI are exempted from Aadhaar verification,” the tweet added.

Many NRIs are still confused whether it is mandatory for them to get their Aadhaar card linked to bank accounts by the December 31 deadline.

The reason for confusion is that while government maintains that NRIs are not eligible for Aadhaar card, several NRIs have already applied and received Aadhaar card during initial phases.

UIDAI has time and again addressed concerns regarding Aadhaar card. The authority has also confirmed several times that Aadhaar linking is not required for NRE/NRO bank accounts.

However for resident Indians Aadhaar number has to be compulsorily linked with bank account by 31 December 2017.

Here are the Aadhaar-related deadlines for resident Indians:

* Deadline for Aadhaar and PAN linking is December 31, 2017
* Deadline for providing Aadhaar to financial institutions like banks is December 31, 2017
* Deadline for providing Aadhaar details to social security schemes is December 31, 2017
* Deadline for linking Aadhaar card with Post Office schemes, PPF, NSC, Kisan Vikas Patrika is December 31, 2017
* Deadline for providing Aadhaar based e-KYC verification for all mobile phone subscribers is February 6, 2018

Residents may visit the Aadhaar Seva Kendra for enrolment and to update services.