New Visa Requirements?
 

Hi,

I am currently in India on a Business Visa. I switched hotels this morning and upon checking in, I was informed by the manager that I will need to leave the country by October 31. I was extremely surprised to hear this, but I reviewed the letter from the government myself, and it is very clear that foreigners on Business Visas must leave by then.

Upon doing some research with my Indian colleague, it seems that the guidelines for Business Visas have changed and now are only valid for certain cases, such as starting a new business / joint venture. For my consulting work, I would need an Employment Visa. Shouldn't be difficult to get, but still somewhat annoying.

Does anyone have any information on this? We have reached out to the consulate as well as our own travel department, but I am looking for all the details I can get my hands on. I was already scheduled to leave on 10/31 (perhaps this is the reason why my flight is completely sold out), but was supposed to return several days later.

-Troy

I have an entire team in the same situation, but trying to get concrete information has been very difficult.

Supposedly the situation (gleaned from newspapers, hearsay, etc) that there was an incident between Chinese and Indian workers, and some people were killed. The govt investigated and found a lot of Chinese workers in India on Business Visas, and the rules were then changed.

The new rules are supposedly that BVs can only be used by "salesy" type people who are here to sell, buy, or set up/establish business. Employment visas are required for all people who are here working on contracts or projects being executed by Indian companies. This affects my team as we're employed by various offices of a MNC but working on an Indian project for our Indian office.

However the fun has started when we tried to establish how to get an Indian employment visa. I'm a New Zealander but live in Singapore, and have established from the NZ Indian High Commission that they think I need to go to NZ to get the visa issued since the rules say they will only issue to citizens in their country of citizenship. The Singapore Indian High Commission hasn't been able to answer the question from our travel agents/immigration consultants/email/phone/PAs going and annoying them in person, so I will have to visit next week when I get back to Singapore.

However, a Belgian colleague who is employed/works in NZ, who spoke to the High Commission in NZ was told he would have to go to Belgium. The Belgian Indian High Commission said he was fine on a Business Visa and didn't need an Employment Visa.

The Australian Indian High Commission has been unable to answer but it seems that a British colleague will need to return to the UK to get his visa. The Swiss Indian High Commission says there have been no changes.... and so on. It's absolute chaos but not surprising. Nonetheless all of us are leaving on the 31st to try and find out from our respective country consulates what the heck we should do!

The hotel we use (Leela Kempinski, Gurgaon) had not heard of the changes and it's a hotel used by many tech/telco companies. I'm surprised yours had said that you must leave -- where are you staying?


http://www.worldwideerc.org/Resource...-20091014.html has a reasonably detailed explanation as does http://www.worldwideerc.org/Resource...-20091009.html

Finally someone who is in the same situation. You are right, no one knows what is going on and it is incredibly difficult to get any reliable information on this.

From the research our team has done, it seems that the requirements for an Employment Visa are a bit more stringent than a Business Visa (which caused this whole problem). At a minimum, it looks like they need a copy of your employment contract, salary details, etc. What's confusing is who this needs to come from. For example, I am employed by a US firm directly who is doing consulting work on behalf of a US client, at their Indian subsidiary, in conjunction with our India firm.

The way I read the requirements, the question is what is considered "doing work for an Indian company" - directly or indirectly?

I was initially information about this by the ITC in Vizag, however I have asked at the ITC Maratha (Mumbai), ITC Maurya (Delhi), and Park Hyatt Goa and none of them knew about this. I would think at least the ITC's in Mumbai and Delhi would be aware of this issue.

Thanks for the links I will check them out.

At the risk of stating the obvious... why not use a tourist visa? They're easily obtained, allow multiple entries and are valid 6 months, and you can get them issued back to back without anybody blinking an eye. Yes, you're not allowed to "work" on a tourist visa... but if you're getting paid at home by the home office, not by an Indian company in India, then you aren't really working in India now are you?

As a data point, I spent over a year (off and on) working... err... attending a project in India on an unholy mix of tourist and business visas, traveling back and forth every month or so, and Immigration never even batted an eyelid.

Oh, how the tables have turned.

Yes, that is certainly a possible option. Problems are twofold - not sure I want to deal with that and more importantly, I don't think my company will let me travel without the appropriate visa (it is a big company with lots of policies/procedures).

Yes - I had been meaning to post a question here (which is why I had glanced at the India forum) and saw yours!

We're still trying to work through this. I'm employed (if all things are equal) by an Australian firm, but live and work in Singapore, andI'm supporting a project in India for the next 12 months on a part time basis (2 weeks on/2 weeks off type thing). I have no relationship with our Indian operations except that there's an internal moneyshuffle to pay for my time. This is the same for every person in my team...

Our HR in India is unsure but are still talking to our advisors (PWC) to try and find out more - if I hear anything I'll post it here. It seems that it will be a letter from the Indian company which explains the project, how you're being funded, why you need to be there, etc.... rather than local employment.

Very interesting. The staff at the Leela were unaware of the change, but they are asking around.

While I doubt immigration cares (several arrivals over the weekend had no comments made on their Business Visas by immigration - although one official commented that the person came to India regularly), it's not something that I'm willing to risk, nor my major MNC employer is willing to risk. The bad publicity and potential backlash to the company and me personally is not something that either want. We want to do the right thing - we just need to know what it is.

The other issue is that I'd be going through pages and pages in my passport very quickly ;).

Whenever I have to visit the offices of one of the state companies as part of my work, as a foreigner I need to show my passport and visa to gain entry. I suspect that if I only had a tourist visa it might cause problems...

We have several people in our office here with the same problem as the OP - employed by the UK office but working on Indian projects in the India office for x weeks / months. Long term expats (like me) are on Employment visas but the short term guys are on Business visas.

For employment visas we have to initially apply in our country of residence (IIRC), but they can be extended at the FRO. We needed a letter from the Indian company stating that we were employed by the UK co etc and wouldn't cost the GOI anything while we were here, plus a copy of our contract.

Good luck!

It's going to be turning more.

For those of South Asian backgrounds, it's probably going to still work out for those in the kind of arrangement you mention because of a presumption of social visit purpose if so declaring that for those with a tourist visa and/or tourist & business visas; for those of other ethnic backgrounds and staying at higher end hotels for long durations, it might become a bit more difficult if the Home Ministry decides to go full force with updated training and implementation at the international ports of entry.

PIO and OCI applications should see a spike due to this too since that's a more predictable -- if not also easier -- process than these contractor/employment-related visa requirements.

Just to add, it is my understanding that if one's South Asian background is Indian, and if one has any Pakistani links, it is still very difficult to obtain any kind of entry visa for India.

Speaking of ordinary visas rather than of something like PIO or OCI, it is often still the way you mention it. However, it's not necessarily obvious to the Indian government who does and does not have any Pakistani links if using a non-Pakistani passport and born outside of Pakistan.

Until recently, I believe that was the case.

However, it seems that over the past five years, there is a perception that applicants with Muslim names and South Asian heritage, even those born outside Pakistan, (but including those born in India prior to 1947), are experiencing extreme scrutiny of, and rejection of visa applications at a high rate. I do know of some cases personally and am a little surprised at the type of people who are experiencing background delays and rejections (i.e., older persons born in India, migrated to Pakistan, then migrated to the USA; or, college age persons born in the USA of Muslim parents from India).

I suspect you are referring to people of third world countries having to change their plans to or in first world countries, such as the U.S. and the U.K. due to rules being changed or at the whims of interpretation of rules by those charged with implementing them. It's an indication of changing economic situation. There is substantial economic activity in India, which of significant interest to western business entities. India, unlike the U.S. the U.K. or western Europe, does not face people trying to get in to India by any means, with the exception of Nepalis or Bangladeshis.

That is the case. I wish it were different. I have any friends who would like to visit India. How is it the other way around? Indians, specifically Sikhs, are allowed to visit Pakistan to visit Sikh shrines as members of organised tours. Their experiences have been positive. Grand parents of one my friends, who are from Rawalpindi got to visit with the family who lived in what was the former's home before the partition. The original porch light fixture that was still there was gifted by the Pakistani famly to them.

It might be expedient, but hardly advisable. I would not do it myself, nor would I advise anyone to do that. :) As far as salary goes, of you are going to be paid in India from Indian sources, it's better to have neither PIO nor OCI.