Simple555

Is it still true that British Citizens who's parents or grandparents originate from Pakistan will still be prejudiced by the Indian High Commission when issuing Visas?

I was looking to book a holiday to Goa today, leaving next week and didn't give a second thought that there could ever be a problem obtaining any visas.

My GF (British born Citizen) informed me that it may be difficult because of her British Citizen Parents who were originally from Pakistan, I told her that would be ridiculous and not to worry. I googled it and it appears it is a big problem!

I was planning on proposing in India, my parents are from India (again, same British citizen scenario).

Literally brought a tear to my eye that this blatant racism still exists today and i don't have the heart to tell her if it was true.

Can someone please confirm?

Not interested in waiting months for a Visa.

jib71

Welcome to Flyertalk.

I doubt that any online forum can definitively settle the question for you. If you don't feel like submitting a visa application because you perceive a risk of a negative experience, I'm sure you'll find another meaningful way to propose. But please don't get teary and complain of blatant racism unless you know it exists - It's not justified and it's not helping you.

Good luck.

Simple555

Unfortunately, after some digging around it appears that it is still the case that the origin of a British Born Citizen's Grandparents is still a factor in determining if a visa will be approved the same day or will take months!

Equalities epic fail by the Indian Government.

Open letter from the Equal Rights Trust to the Indian PM: http://www.equalrightstrust.org/ertd...0M%20Singh.pdf

No action taken.

News article from last year: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...tes-pakistanis

Will take my business elsewhere, a country that doesn't discriminate on such stupid grounds.

Keyser

welcome to ft....

there is no prejudice or blatant racism here....just a check that sometimes requires weeks....the longest it takes is 6 weeks but you could get the visa sooner as well....

after all, pakistan does the exact same thing to india....i have been to pakistan multiple times & each time i have had to go through hell to get a visa....in fact, my relatives in pakistan tell me that it is easier for them to get a visa than it is for an indian citizen to get a visa to go there....

even when i do get the visa, it is only city specific for a maximum of 3 cities....i have to report to the local police station within 24 hours of my arriving & 24 hours before i depart from that city....it normally takes 6-8 weeks to get the visa....

these measures were brought into place after the mumbai attacks in 2008....this all came into strict effect because of people like david headley....an american citizen whom the american government recognized as such & issued an american passport to travel....because that was no different from another american holding an american passport, he managed to sneak into india to help plan the mumbai attacks....in case you don't know who he is you can check out the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Headley

Yaatri

What you decry may be a stupid or a tit-for-tat policy but it's not racism. Do you know of any one of a pair of countries that are not only hostile towards each other but have also fought wars give visa to citizens of the other easily?

Indians and Pakistanis do inter-marry, people travel to visit their families on the other side of the border. It's not impossible for a person of Pakistan origin to get a visa, just more difficult. People of Indian origin have also suffered because of the policy you complain about. They cannot travel to India within sixty days of departure from India even if they have a visa.

Spouses of British/American citizens of Indian and Pakistani origin also encountered severe difficulties when trying to join their other half. That could be racism, but what you cite is not racism.

SQ421

Is it racism when the UK allows me to enter on an Australian Passport without requiring to obtain a visa beforehand but would require me to jump through hoops to enter UK if I wanted to to it whilst I was an Indian Citizen?

No.

Save your tears for things that actually matter!

GUWonder

Welcome to FT.

British citizens -- in the main -- need apply, with some applicants needing to provide substantially more advance notice than others in order to secure a visa. Get her to apply sooner than later, as visas ordinarily do get issued in such circumstances and try to push out your plans by a few months if that can still work for the two of you.

Prejudice is unfortunately involved -- at least in the time it takes to process the visas based on some categories of persons being subjected to greater delays than other persons of otherwise like circumstances.

When there are two persons who apply for a visa with all characteristics/details being much the same except for citizenship and/or place of birth and/or assumed religion of parent(s)/grandparent(s), then there may be bigotry in play if one is subject to delays while the other is not. A pattern of consistency then confirms that bigotry is in play.

Discriminating against a person for the circumstances of birth of parent(s)/grandparent(s) -- and that's what forcing delays upon a person on the basis of a parent/grandparent is -- has a stink about it.

The only good thing to be said about this situation is that visa applicants do in the main get approved ... at least eventually.

Raising the issue of David Headley doesn't change a thing, except create more of a ridiculous dog and pony show. Most acts of criminal violence -- even just the segment that is political terrorism -- in India have been (and almost certainly continue to be) conducted by those criminals who don't need a visa to get into India. They cross illegally into India or are already in India, and so this discrimination in the name of counter-terrorism is just part of a dog and pony show, much akin to the TSA in the US.

Colts_01

Each country has its own set of rules. Take Britain for example, an Indian who is traveling from US to India and transits through London needs a transit visa if they don't have a stamped US visa. Nobody wants to take a visa just for transit purpose so most of them fly middle eastern airlines where there is no restriction so who is the loser here. If you go by your definition each and every country has some kind of racism in there policy towards some nationality/country.

The point is you need only one David Headley or some other moron to screw up the system for millions of people.

So stop wasting your tears and enjoy your future with your GF.

GUWonder

For this situation, the morons who screwed up the system are Indian. David Headley couldn't screw up the Indian system, as he never ran it nor even had a voice in its running.

Bigotry is bigotry, including when foreign government visa processing includes systematic, deliberate discrimination against Indian citizens on the basis of the place(s) of birth, ethnic background(s) and/or religion(s) of applicant's parent(s)/grandparent(s) and nothing else. Shame on those who do it against Indian citizens, and shame on India doing the same thing.

Most Indians traveling from India to the US do not require a visa to transit London. Not much different for Indians transiting from India to the US via Middle East carriers.

Keyser

how can an indian travel from the us without having a stamped us visa????

Keyser

of course it changes everything....its because of people like him that the visa rules are altered....although i completely agree with your point about political terrorism & the uselessness of the tsa....

PHL_roadwarrior

I think what Colts_01 meant was that an Indian citizen transiting the UK without a valid US visa ("stamp" - i.e. the "entry permit" - given one can enter the USA on the last valid day of the visa) would require a transit visa.....obviously, this can only apply while going TO India (or some other country other than the USA or UK.....). I have seen/heard of multiple instances of this being a major deciding factor when picking transit points/airlines for many people with expired visas - typically on their way to India to renew a work visa or who are half-way stuck in the glorious US immigration process...

GUWonder

Indians who have entered the US unlawfully from Canada or Mexico, for example, may not all have a valid US visa sticker or other US document for legal entry/presence in the US. There are those whose immigration status in the US changes while in the US and/or those have a document/status shuffle, which may include a document/status shuffle in the hands of the Indian government and/or of the US government.

There are some circumstances that do arise for Indians which do require a transit visa to go from the US to India via the UK, but UK transit-related visa requirements do not hit most Indians in the US. Avoiding connections via London to India are in the main done for reasons that don't have to do with official UK transit visa conditions.

Colts_01

Indian travels to US on a H1 Visa, once the visa expires he can apply for extension while still in US and the extension is approved, you cannot stamp the visa in US, he needs to do it in India (or outside US say canada or Mexico) and people prefer doing it in India when they make a trip home for vacation.

The other scenario could be a student after he finishes school and gets a job his visa status changes and his student stamped visa is expired.

Probably I should have mentioned unexpired stamped Visa. Basically if your US visa stamped on your passport is expired you need a transit visa if you want to fly through LHR, even though you are going to air side only.