A Melbourne man, his wife and two children planned to spend their two-week Christmas break in Kochi, in South India, where his son first Holy Communion was also planned.
However, his eight-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter were denied permission to board the Malaysia Airlines flight due to an issue with their Overseas Citizen of India cards.
They were told the OCI cards did not have their latest passport information recorded on them – something many other travellers of Indian descent have been affected by in the recent weeks and months.
“My children have travelled to India twice using the same passports and OCI, in 2016 and then in 2018, but at that time nobody said anything,” he told SBS Punjabi.
Since October this year, a large number of people, particularly aged up to 20 and over 50, have been denied boarding by various airlines because the passengers’ OCI cards -- a lifetime visa for foreign citizens of Indian origin -- did not record information of their latest passport. Many had to rebook their flights spending thousands of dollars and other just had to cancel their travel plans altogether.
According to the Government of India rules, OCI cardholders up to the age of twenty must have their OCI renewed every time they change their passport. For those aged 50 and over, the OCI card is required to be re-issued only once on acquiring a new passport and OCI holders between the age of 21 and 50 don’t have to renew it when they get a new passport.
In view of so many people being affected adversely by a sudden implementation of the rules, the Indian government, earlier this week, decided to temporarily relax the rules to give time to OCI holders to comply with requirements. India’s Ministry of Home issued a notification on Tuesday, announcing that OCI holders who have recently renewed their passports could continue to travel to India, provided they also carried their old passport that is recorded on their OCI cards.
The Melbourne man says his children were carrying their old passports and they were still stopped.
“I don’t have a problem with the rule being enforced, I am happy to comply with it. But if there is a notification relaxing that rule and my children were still denied boarding two days after the notification was issued, it’s not something I will take lying down,” he said.
He says he had to rebook the flights at an additional expense of $3,500.
An officer at the Indian High Commission, Canberra said they were informing all the airlines flying to India about the notification.
“It [the notification] is purely for the benefit of OCI cardholders during the holiday season so that they don’t face any problems travelling to India. We have already sent information regarding this to our consulates and missions and told them to communicate the same to the airlines which you know there are a number of them flying to India,” the officer told SBS Punjabi.
“We are hoping now that this information is rolled out, no one will be inconvenienced since it is now there for everyone to see.”
But the Melbourne man says it seemed the notification had not been communicated to Malaysia airlines.
“We had to apply for an e visa and spend so many hours on the phone to rebook our flights – a waste of time and money. I need compensation.”
SBS Punjabi has contacted Malaysia Airlines for a comment.
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