Oceanbound222

I want to travel to India with a close Pakistani friend. He lives in Pakistan.

How difficult is it for a Pakistani to get a tourist visa for India?
What are the restrictions if he does get one?

Does anyone have any inside knowledge or suggestions?

Thanks

sadiqhassan

Next to impossible. If you know people you can usually try and get one but it takes a long time. I applied for one to go to a wedding in India but was denied after a few months. [Not even on a Pakistani passport - it's just that my parents were born in Pakistan.]

My grandparents were able to get one after about a few months with their Canadian passports. They live in Pakistan.

Cheers

GUWonder

It's not easy nor is it automatic and quick for Pakistani nationals wanting to visit India (or vice versa), but even people who barely know anybody get visas to visit the other country. It depends on the purpose of the visit -- family-related reasons or documented significant business interests and chances are better.

sadiqhassan

yea, I think the reason you want to go is quite important in the decision making process.

Cheers

Oceanbound222

Thanks for the rather disappointing info.

Where can Pakistanis get an easy visa?
Is Bangaladesh visa difficult for Pakistanis?

sadiqhassan

YGPM

Cheers

khansfman

For dual nationality (US + Pak in this case ) I have heard the Indian consulate asking for the Pakistani passport (in some cases folks who last had a Pak passport decades ago) + NICOP.

The Indian visa is stamped in the Pak passport, not the US one which subjects these dual nationality holders to the onerous and unpleasant task of making police entries everywhere.

Apparently, this is a new rul Any one familiar with the process recently who can vouch for the veracity of these changes?

Yaatri

The first thing that came to my mind was the idiocy of stamping the Indian visa in a Pakistani passport, even if the applicant was a U.S. citizen. On the second thought, it's not all that silly.

1. Pakistan allows dual citizenship. There is no way for India to know whether an applicant who is a U.S. citizen is concurrently also a Pakistani citizen.
2. Once a Pakistani passport is presented, stamping the visa on it ensures that the person is unable to "hide" their Pakistani citizenship while entering India.

It makes it inconvenient for the traveller through. For example while checking in for their flight in the U.S., they have to show their Pakistani passport to the check-in staff in order to establish hat they have a visa to India.
If a dual US/Pak or U,K./Pak citizen of dual nationality intends to enter India for purposes of terrorism (instead of tourism), they do not even have to bring up their Pakistani citizenship. Moreover, terrorist hardly needs a visa to enter India.

GUWonder

Indeed, and most terrorists in India -- whether from Pakistan, India or anywhere else -- have never had a visa to enter India (or any other place for that matter). Most haven't ever even had to use a passport, if captives are to be taken as a reliable measure. These visa regimes are more often a major nuisance to law-abiding people who care to follow the legal requirements than they are to terrorists who don't mind breaking far more serious laws of the land than immigration-related requirements.

Mr. Bean

a related question - applying for Pakistan visa - will having an Indian visa (specifically, OCI) in my passport hurt the chances of getting approved? Reason for entering Pakistan would be purely for non-business purpose.

GUWonder

I know American OCIs who have gotten Pakistani visas for non-business purposes such as to attend a wedding/visiting friends or relatives in Pakistan -- so it's far from being a sure way to get denied the Pakistani visa.

Mr. Bean

ah, thanks - good to know that I won't be immediately rejected/throwing away $120

jahason

My employer wants me to visit our Indian offices to train some of their people. I am a UK citizen born in the UK but my wife is a UK citizen born in Pakistan. My parents were born in India. The form asks for place of birth of parents and spouse and then suggests a minimum of 8 weeks. But I have heard that it has taken some 6 months to get a response (usually a rejection).

Does anyone of Pakistani origin have experience in applying for an Indian business visa? Obviously I will attach a letter of invitation from our Indian office. Is there anything else that could speed the process? The company I work for is an American multi-national.

I can wait 8-10 weeks but if the general experience is that visas take considerably longer or are rejected I would rather decline the visit.

Keyser

i don't think anyone here will be able to tell you how long the visa process will take....for some its fairly quick & for some it takes forever....you are not likely to get turned down just because your wife was born in pakistan....whether it will delay the process, i can't say....

i know a lot of people who get their visas besides the fact that their husband or wife or parents or relatives are pakistani citizens or lived or were born in pakistan....

Babu

Jahason,

I wanted to send one of my managers to India to train some people this summer. She is a US citizen, but born in Pakistan. The agency that normally handles visas for our firm refused to touch her case, and instead sent her to a law firm to get the process moving. This firm told her it could take up to 1 year to get the visa. It has now been 4 months. I am now going to find another manager to do the job, as I can't wait any longer.

FWIW, we are a large firm with established offices in India.

Babu