The Pakistan-born actress and singer Salma Agha, who has worked in a number of Bollywood films, is likely to get an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card which will allow her multiple entry and multi-p
The Pakistan-born actress and singer Salma Agha, who has worked in a number of Bollywood films, is likely to get an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card which will allow her multiple entry and multi-purpose life-long visa to visit India with exemption from reporting to the police.
Ms Agha had applied for the OCI card a few days ago and her application was approved after taking into consideration various aspects. She also met home minister Rajnath Singh, apparently to express her gratitude for the gesture. Ms Agha is a citizen of the UK.
The Overseas Citizen of India card gives the individual parity with NRIs in financial, economic and educational fields, with the exception of acquisition of agricultural or plantation properties.
According to the rules, a foreign national who is a child, grandchild or a great grandchild of Indian citizen is eligible for registration as Overseas Citizen of India card holder. There are a few other conditions to get the OCI card.
However, no person, who or either of whose parents, grandparents or great grandparents is or had been a citizen of Pakistan and Bangladesh shall be eligible for registration.
In her application, Ms Agha is said to have referred to her Indian roots in her maternal grandfather Jugal Kishore Mehra. Mehra was a noted actor and his wife and Salma’s grandmother, Anwari Begum, was a star singer in the 1930s and 1940s.
Pakistani singer Adnan Sami was in January given Indian citizenship.
Others who have been staying in India and working on employment visas are Katrina Kaif, a United Kingdom citizen, Deepti Naval a US citizen and Yana Gupta, a Czech citizen.
