jahason

Thanks very much for the information. I have been to India three times before but I guess times are different. I am keen on taking up another assignment in Asia-Pac region instead so this information will give me the perfect excuse.

sum_in

I am a Pakistani citizen, and permanent US citizen, working in the US as an engineer. My company wants to send me to train some engineers at our India facility and I am needed there in 3 weeks. I looked at the forms and it says it would take a minimum of 6 weeks to obtain a visa.. given that I only have 3 weeks to submit AND obtain a visa, is it even worth submitting the application or should I pass up on it and let someone else take this assignment?
I don't know if being a woman helps at all in this case? Any way to expedite the process? If not and theres a fair chance I will be denied the visa/ get it too late, I'd rather not apply. Any feedback is much appreciated. Thanks everyone!

Keyser

welcome to ft sum-in....while there is no gaurantee of how long it would take, i think 3 weeks might be cutting it a little fine....

v.khan14

I want to visit a close pakistani friend in Pakistan. I currently live in Kuwait and would like to know how would i be able to get through on this. My friend lives in Kuwait too and is ready to give me sponsorship. I checked with the .... embassy in Kuwait but i asked if i can get a tourist visa...they said id have to apply in delhi!! for which i cannot find time. My friend said that a visit visa with sponsorship is possible.... please advise if i can get a visit visa for pakistan from Kuwait??... and if yes what documents would i require....

Jayce77

I am a US Citizen, but my birth was in Pakistan. My husband is a US Citizen too, and his birth was in India. I was granted a tourist visa to India in 2007. Now, I am applying for an Indian tourist visa again. I was told that the Indian Embassy is much strict now, and I will probably not get it. Is that a fact?

Keyser

you should get the visa....it will just take a lot longer now....

GUWonder

Those who are in such situation as mentioned in this post and apply for an Indian visa do most probably get the visa again. The duration until the visa gets issued and the duration and condition of the visas may not necessarily be the same as before but for tourist purposes, visas do still get issued in most such situations.

d3vski

For all those who are/or were born in Pakistan and need visas for India or vice versa, what is the worst that can happen?

They will refuse it but if you are posting on FT asking this question, I guess you are already sort of resigned to that fact.

My advice would be to just go ahead and apply but do it with plenty of time before any planned trip so that if the embassies state they need you to produce evidence, proof of this, proof of that, you will be in a position to act on it and shove it back in their faces.

Either way, they will put you out of your misery.

Asfand

Most people would be shocked if they went to the visa website of a London embassy and read: "Processing time is two to three days for British citizens, but seven to eight weeks for British citizens of Jewish origin". Indeed, advertising an intention to discriminate is contrary to the Race Relations Act 1976. Yet, explicit discrimination of this kind can be found on the website for visas for India: "Processing time for UK Nationals is a minimum of 2-3 working days ... Processing time of applications received from persons of Pakistani origin [including British citizens] will be minimum 7-8 weeks."

Pakistani ethnic origin is detected through questions about place of birth and previous nationality, both for the applicant and their parents. Disclosing a link with Pakistan triggers demands for extra information and a long processing period, which in many cases makes travel to India impossible. India is effectively banning more than half a million British citizens of Pakistani origin from travelling to India as tourists, on business, or to participate in academic conferences or student exchange programmes.

Looking behind a British passport and treating an individual differently, because they or their parents were born in Pakistan, is direct or indirect racial discrimination violating UK, European and international human rights law. It cannot be justified under any circumstances, because it is a first step down a very slippery slope of racism.

In 1933, Nazi Germany excluded German citizens of Jewish origin from the civil service. In 1942, the United States arrested all US citizens of Japanese origin living on the west coast, and transferred them to prison camps. It makes no difference that India is practising racial discrimination against British citizens rather than its own. India would object very strongly if Australia, Canada, China or the US made it much harder for British citizens of Indian origin (but not Pakistani origin) to obtain a tourist visa.

India's racist visa rule is an irrational response to the tragic attacks in Mumbai in November 2008. The attackers arrived by sea, without visas, deliberately evading all border controls. No visa rule of any kind could have stopped them. The rule appears to be based on the case of the convicted terrorist David Headley, a US citizen of Pakistani origin who made several trips to Mumbai to scout locations for the attacks. But when he applied for an Indian visa, Headley failed to disclose his previous name, and falsely stated that his father's name was Headley. Terrorists planning to kill or assist killers will not be deterred by questions on a visa application form. They will give false information. But thousands of innocent people of Pakistani origin who answer truthfully may find themselves barred from India.

Under UK, European and international human rights law, suspicion of potential to commit a crime must be based on an individual's own conduct, not on their racial or ethnic origin. India should apply the same security check to all British citizens applying for visas. If the check reveals no cause for concern, the visa should be issued. Being born in Pakistan, or the child of a person born in Pakistan, is not a crime, nor evidence of predisposition to commit terrorist acts in India. In the 1980s, India could have been accused of "exporting terrorism". The 1985 bombing of an Air India 747 flying from Montreal to London killed 329 people, including 280 Canadian citizens. This terrible crime was linked to extremist Sikh nationalism in India. Should Canada have retaliated by adopting a similar rule, requiring British and US citizens of Indian origin to apply for visas, issued after a long wait, if at all?

During the painful recovery from traumatic terrorist attacks, it is tempting for governments to abandon human rights principles and impose sweeping restrictions on the innocent. But this temptation must be resisted. This weekend, we celebrate the independence days of Pakistan and India, and recall (many of us with shame) Britain's role in the partition and its bloody aftermath, which includes the unfinished business of Kashmir.

The vast majority of British citizens sincerely hope that India and Pakistan will find a way to end their cold war. But India's decision to punish British (US, Canadian and other) citizens of Pakistani origin, by making it extremely difficult for them to travel to India, will do nothing to help resolve its conflict with Pakistan. On the contrary, it will cause those who are denied visas to resent India for excluding them, rather than praise India's democracy and economic growth, after their visits. And it puts British universities and employers sending groups of students or staff to India in a very difficult position. Should they cancel the trip for all, or say to their fellow British citizens "No Pakistanis need apply"?

hyderago

Asfand, welcome to FlyerTalk!
I agree that determined terrorists will find a way to avoid these issues. But the point of the law is to make it [atleast somewhat] harder for them to do so. Why does the US impose sanctions against Iran? It's not like Iran has stopped trading with other countries or not been able to build nuclear weapons. Nevertheless, the sanctions have made it harder for Iran to do so and perhaps reduced this activity on the margin.
I doubt this is the case. From what I have heard, US citizens of Pakistani origin rarely have trouble (besides a long wait) in getting Indian tourist visas.

Keyser

you do realize pakistan does the exact same thing for people of indian origin????

every time i have had to travel to pakistan, i have had to apply for a visa weeks (sometime months) in advance....i am only given a visa for specific cities (a maximum of 3 cities)....i manage to get an exemption from police reporting but only because i have connections....otherwise i would have to go register with the police within 24 hours of my arrival & departure in each city....

i have never come across a single pakistani citizen or person of pakistani origin who was denied a visa because of the fact that he/she is/was a pakistani....the process just takes a little extra time....on the other hand, i know a lot of people of indian origin who have been denied a visa to pakistan....

B747-437B

Isn't it wonderful that we can get away with it though?

The UK should ask themselves what they are doing granting citizenship to former citizens of a state sponsor of terrorism in the first place. Shock horror!

Pakistan is a state sponsor of terror against India. I consider myself rather progressive compared to the average Indian citizen, but I think these programs don't go far enough.

Just my $0.02 though...

GUWonder

In practical terms, Pakistan is actually far worse in its treatment of Indian nationals with a Pakistani visa than India is of Pakistani nationals with an Indian visa. And religious and/or ethnic discrimination by Pakistani officials against Indian citizens with a Pakistani visa is far uglier than religious and/or ethnic discrimination by Indian officials against Pakistani citizens with an Indian visa. In terms of getting visas, neither is great, but India is more predictable in terms of its issuing of visas (or not).

This is not to say that either country is a saint -- all have engaged in some ugly nonsense, including false accusations made against Indians due to flawed "intelligence" about their "connections" with Pakistan; and false accusations made against Pakistanis due to flawed "intelligence" about their "connections" with India.

ISI is only somewhat more chock full of bigots than RAW, IB and CBI.

More to the core of the matter, most of those OECD country nationals with Pakistani dual-citizenship or with parents of such citizenship do get visas to India if they apply properly and their home country/countries clear them.

SQ421

Near impossible to be "racist" against something thats not a "race"; and "Pakistani" is not a race.

If they are British Citizens, then India has no grounds to object. The matter is between UK and the afrorementioned countries. Nice attempt at drawing the bow.

So? Entering any country other than the country of your citizenship is a privillage, not a right; a privillage extended by the host country by granting you a visa. The host country can impose whatever restrictions it so desires on whom it grants such a visa to.

A spoonful of cement might perhaps make the rejection go down easier?

As an aside, you never hear an someone crying about the reverse side of thigns - "A British/American/Australian citizen of Indian origin crying about how hard it is to get a visa for Pakistan"... I wonder why...

GUWonder

"Racist" is used by some to apply to being "bigoted". The point remains the same regardless of the choice of semantics.

India certainly would have grounds to object, and such type of objection would not be anything new for any country mentioned in this thread.

That is a claim asserted by many -- and a frequent refrain from petty national chauvinists paranoid about who knows what -- but that claim is anything but a simple truth.

Not necessarily, and certainly not necessarily without grounds for objection.

Perhaps you have never heard of such a thing, but others most certainly have heard of such things.

Even some British/American/Australian citizens of Indian origin (only) have trouble getting a visa for India. Given that occurs, not sure why any reasonable, informed person should doubt that there are also British/American/Australian citizens of Indian origin (only) unhappy with how hard it can be to get a visa for Pakistan. [Even some such citizens of Pakistani origin have trouble getting visas to Pakistan ... and they complain too.]