Originally Posted by
abhilife2001
Unfortunately, South Asians tend to illegally migrate to many places well educated folks from these regions wont..I have seen many many illegal South asians in Greece/Italy/France and they all end up doing very low end work, but when asked, they all told tht its still better than wht they had in their village somewhere in SA .. most of them want to go back home or wish to get valid visas so tht they can get higher paid jobs.. and just because of the sheer population of this region, other countries are not willing to hv VOA as even if a miniscule % goes there and disappears, its a big problem for them...
I agree completely tht VOA is there for many countries with very less economic clout or economic growth than India, but as I said the difference is the population and the huge difference between the have's and the have nots..
Always been interested to know how countries decide on the VOA or visa waiver scheme..
For eg.. Germany does not require a visa for citizens of Chile, El Salvador, Barbados, Mauritius, Panama, Paraguay and Andorra and I guess all these are much lower risk category than Indians
Yeah, I know why Indians don't get VOA - it's our own damn fault to a large extent. I don't expect to get VOA into Schengen or the US or Canada any time soon, but there's a ton of countries where Indians are not likely to illegally immigrate - places like Korea (no visa if in transit and hold US/UK/etc visa), Japan (visa has a nominal price anyway) or Egypt where there are huge language and cultural issues. Heck, Schengen allows Mexicans without a visa and given the recent drug violence and their history of illegal immigration into the US, it pains me a little that I have to go through the arduous visa application process and increased scrutiny at FRA every time. Guatemalans dont need a visa either. I think you either have to be a really poor country such that you absolutely don't pose a risk for illegal immigration or a very rich one. If you're in the middle, you're screwed.
But I definitely did not know that Indians were using Latin America as a way to illegally get into the US back in the 80s. One would think with the stronger policing of America's borders, and with improved opportunities in India, there isn't much of an incentive to do this anymore. But what do I know...
If nothing else, you'd think the BRIC countries could start a visa waiver or VOA scheme for each other. That would at least justify the arbitrary moniker.