Aadhaar Card for Non Resident Indians

As per the Aadhaar Act of 2016, any individual/NRI who has stayed in India for at least 182 days within 12 months immediately before applying for Aadhaar is a resident and eligible to apply for Aadhaar card. An Aadhaar card is not a citizenship card; rather, it’s an identification proof that is linked to the centralized database as it includes demographic, biometric and other data used for the identification of an individual.

Process of availing Aadhaar card for NRIs:

The process of applying an Aadhaar card for NRI is same as that for an Indian resident. Either the NRI can book the appointment and download forms by visiting the official website of UIDAI or the person can directly visit the nearby enrolment centres with the required documents.

Steps for availing Aadhaar card by visiting enrolment centre:

1. Documents submission: The first step includes the submission of all relevant documents which specifies the identity of the NRI such as school certificate, birth certificate and a photo ID card.After the submission, the documents will be verified by the assigned authority to determine the eligibility of the individual.
2. Fingerprints scan: Next step is biometric scanning which includes scan of fingerprints of all ten fingers for establishing a unique identity of the individual.
3. Iris scan: Iris scanning is done to ensure that an individual’s identity is not confused with the identity of another individual.
4. Photograph: After the completion of all the scanning procedures at the enrolment center, a photograph of the individual will be taken through a web camera, which will be included with other documents for the completion of the process.The physical copy of the Aadhaar card will be sent by the UIDAI through post.

Although it takes around 60-90 days by the authorities to send the Aadhaar card, the individual can surely track the Aadhaar card status online on the website of UIDAI by using the enrolment number (EID) which is present at the top right corner of the acknowledgement slip received after the completion of enrolment process. Else, UIDAI also facilitates ‘e-Aadhaar download’ from the official website as the soft copy of Aadhaar has the same importance.

Income Tax Filing for NRIs Through Aadhaar Card:

As introduced by the Finance Act of 2017, section 139AA of the Income Tax Act of 1961 says that - for filing income tax returns or for application of PAN card by any resident of India, it is mandatory for him/her to have an Aadhaar card or Aadhaar number. But this act is not applicable for NRIs since July 2017.