The pensioners, including NRIs, have to furnish a life certificate every single year, in the month of November. For Indian pensioners living abroad, submitting the annual Jeevan Pramaan Patra, or life certificate, can be done through multiple methods that do not require traveling to India, allowing NRIs and family pensioners to confirm their status and continue receiving their pensions remotely.

India does not offer dual citizenship to individuals. But here is some reassuring news for pensioners settled abroad: a change in citizenship by any Non-Resident Indian pensioner will not affect their entitlement to the pension.

Indian Consulates

The life certificate must be issued by an authorised official of the Embassy or High Commission of India, a Consul of Indian Consulates, a Notary Public, or an Officer of an Indian Authorised Bank attached to its branch in the country where the pensioner is currently residing.

In case the applicant is unable to come to the High Commission for verification for issuance of Life Certificate, some countries allow the Life Certificate to be authenticated by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA). The documents are required to be notarised (not attested) by a Notary Public and then sent to DIA for their authentication.

The pensioner also has to furnish other certificates, including a non-employment or re-employment certificate, and a re-marriage or marriage certificate, as prescribed in the pension scheme.

Digital Life Certificate

One of the major requirements for pensioners post their retirement from service is to provide life certificates to the authorized pension disbursing agencies like Banks, Post offices etc., following which their pension is credited to their account.

In order to get this life certificate, the individual drawing the pension is required to either personally present oneself before the Pension Disbursing Agency or have the Life Certificate issued by the authority where they have served earlier and have it delivered to the disbursing agency.

This very requirement of personally being present in front of the disbursing agency or getting a life certificate often becomes a major hurdle in the process of seamless transfer of pension amount to the pensioner.

Digital Life Certificate for Pensioners Scheme of the Government of India, known as Jeevan Pramaan, has digitized the whole process of securing the life certificate. With this initiative, the pensioner’s requirement to physically present himself/herself in front of the disbursing agency or the certification authority has become a thing of the past, benefiting the pensioners in a huge way and cutting down on unnecessary logistical hurdles.

Digital Life Certificate: How it Works

Jeevan Pramaan uses the Aadhaar platform for biometric authentication of the pensioner. A successful authentication generates the Digital Life Certificate, which gets stored in the Life Certificate Repository. The Pension Disbursing Agencies can access the certificate online.

Download the PC/ Mobile application or alternatively visit the nearest Jeevan Pramaan Centre to get yourself registered. You will have to provide necessary information like Aadhaar number, Pension Payment Order, Bank Account, Bank Name and your Mobile number.

Aadhaar Authentication: Thereafter, provide your biometrics, either a fingerprint or iris, and authenticate yourself. Jeevan Pramaan uses the Aadhaar Platform for online biometric authentication.

Life Certificate: After a successful authentication, an SMS acknowledgement is sent to your mobile number including your Jeevan Pramaan Certificate ID. The certificates are stored in the Life Certificate Repository for making it available anytime and anywhere for the pensioner and the Pension Disbursing Agency.

Access your Certificate: You can download a PDF copy of the certificate from the Jeevan Pramaan website by providing the Jeevan Pramaan ID.

Pension Disbursing Agency: The Pension Disbursing Agency can access the Life Certificate from the Jeevan Pramaan website and download the same. The Life Certificates can also be electronically delivered to the Pension Disbursing Agency, without any manual intervention.

Pensioners Bank Accounts

NRI pensioners have a clear set of rules to follow to keep receiving their pension without interruption, and missing even one step can cause payments to stop.

The Authorised Bank (AB) will credit the pension amount of a person who has become a non-resident to a Non-Resident (Ordinary) account opened or maintained according to the RBI rules. The amount of pension of a pensioner who has become non-resident may be credited to this account only after the bank ensures personal identification and other requirements are met.

In the case of existing accounts, it is the pensioner’s responsibility to intimate the pension paying branch in India that he has become a Non-Resident Indian. Once this information is received, the paying branch in India should convert the account of the pensioner to a Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) Account.

The paying branches will credit the amount of pension due to the pensioner every month to the Non-Resident Ordinary Account. Withdrawals from these Non-Resident Ordinary Accounts will be governed by the instructions contained in the Exchange Control Manual, and the paying branch will allow the withdrawal accordingly.

Pension credited to the pensioner’s Non-Resident (Ordinary) Account may be remitted by the bank to the pensioner outside India, if the Non-Resident pensioner wishes to do so, by debit to his NR(O) account, either by remittance or by credit to his NR(E) account.

The paying branch should return the PPOs (Pension Payment Orders) of Non-Resident Indian pensioners who are drawing pension from them but are unable to furnish the prescribed life certificate, to the pension sanctioning authority, so that future payments can be arranged for them.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. It does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice. Readers, particularly NRI pensioners, are advised to verify current procedures with their pension-disbursing bank and consult the relevant pension sanctioning authority before acting on this information, as rules and account requirements may be updated from time to time.