Non resident Indians
Beware! Be Careful at the airport Please take note of this -
it could very well happen to you. My suggestion is that you take a
photocopy of the visa and keep it in safe place.
Source: "The Hindu"
20.06.03" This is a well-organised conspiracy by Indian
Immigration, Police, Customs and Air India staff with networking at all
the Indian International Airports. Be watchful when ever you give your
passport to Immigration/Customs/Air India staff. The passport can be
easily tampered with and can create trouble to you. Our officials have
found easy way of making money from NRIs (Non Resident Indians). This
is the way it works. " At the time of the passenger's departure, if the
passenger is not looking at the officer while he is stamping the exit,
the officer very cleverly cuts away one of the pages from the passport.
When the passenger leaves the immigration counter, the case is reported
on his computer terminal with full details. Now all over India they
have got full details of the passenger with Red Flag flashing on the
Pass port number entered by the departure immigration officer. They
make their money by doing this.
On arrival next time, the
unsuspecting passenger is interrogated. Depending on the passenger's
period of stay abroad, his income and standing etc., the price to "get
rid of the problem" is settled by the Police and Immigration people. If
someone argues, his future is in peril, because there are always still
some naive people who think that honesty is the basis of getting
justice in India. All passengers should be careful at the airport.
Whenever they hand over the passport to the counters of Air India, or
immigration or the Customs, they must be vigilant, should not remove
eyes from the passport even if the officer in front tries to divert
their attention. Also those of you with contacts, please pass this
information to all media men and important Govt. authorities and
politicians.
Every month 20-30 cases
happen all over India to rob NRIs the minute he lands. Similar case
happened with Aramco's Arifuddin. He was travelling with his family of
six. They got their US visa and decided to go via Hyderabad from
Jeddah. They reached Hyderabad, stayed for about a month and left for
the US When they reached US the page of the American visa on his wife's
passport was missing. At the time of departure from Hyderabad It was
obviously there since without the Visa neither the airline nor the
immigration officials would allow them to leave. The whole family had
to return to Hyderabad helplessly. On return to Bombay, the police
caught them and now for over 2 months, they are running after the
Police, Immigration officers and the Courts. One cannot either imagine
or believe that the Indian Immigration dept can play such a nasty trick
to harass innocent passengers to extort money from them and in the
bargain probably "sell" the Visas as well to unscrupulous persons. All
the passengers travelling to and from India via Bombay, Hyderabad and
Cochin must especially be aware of this conspiracy. Every month 15 to
20 cases take place, at each mentioned airport, of implicating the
passengers in the crime of tearing away the passport pages.
On interviewing some of
them, none of them was aware of what had happened. They don't know who,
when and why tore away the page from the middle of the passport. One
can imagine the sufferings of such people at the hands of the
immigration, police and the court procedures in India after that. The
number of cases is increasing in the past 2-3 years. People who arrive
at the immigration, are questioned and their passports are held and
they are subjected to interrogation. Obviously, the conspiracy started
about 2 to 3 years ago and now the reports are coming in. An official
source who did not want to disclose his name & identity told to me
that this is a well planned conspiracy in which the Immigration dept.
and the Police dept. are hand in glove. Some of the Air India counter
staff are also involved in this conspiracy. -- Margaretta.
More Advice for Non-Resident Indians
IMPORTANT !MY RECENT EXPERIENCE WITH THE
IMMIGRATION DEPARTMENT AT THE KOLKATA AIRPORT AND THE LESSONS I LEARNT
My advice to all my friends who hold an OCI
(Overseas Citizen of India) Card and those who aspire to get one.
I am an American citizen. I also carry an
OCI card (Overseas Citizen of India) since 2007.
On Saturday, June 20, 2009 , I arrived at
the Kolkata Netaji Subhas Airport from Detroit via Singapore , by
Singapore Airlines (SQ 516) at 10:30 P.M.
I presented myself to an Immigration
Officer ( Mr. Anon ) for immigration clearance. I gave him my American
passport and my OCI card. He demanded to see my visa from the Indian
consular office. Unfortunately, that visa was attached to my old
passport and I did not bring it with me.
I explained to him that I am sorry I forgot
to bring my old passport but since I do possess a valid OCI Card that
would automatically mean that I do also possess a permanent (life long)
visa for India and there are proofs that I have traveled multiple times
to India after I had received my OCI card.
Mr. Anon detained me for two hours inside
the airport and then he told me that he is going to allow me to stay in
India for 72 hours and asked me to report to the Foreign Relations
Regional Officer (FRRO) in the city within 72 hours.. He kept my
passport.. During all that time I had no opportunity either to approach
his OC (Officer in Charge) although I asked for it, or to contact my
relatives who came to the airport to receive me and were waiting
outside and had no idea why I was being held back or if I have even
arrived.
Forgetting to bring my old passport was my
own fault but I 'forgot' to bring it partly because I knew I have my
OCI Card with me and I thought, that means something, I really believed
that I am a citizen of India too. Why would a citizen also need a visa
to enter his own country? I thought I have a dual citizenship for both
the USA and India . Other wise, what is the difference between an
ordinary foreigner and the OCI Card holder?
Next day was a Sunday, I called a friend in
Ann Arbor who went into my house, got my old passport and sent me the
scanned copy of my old passport and a copy of my permanent visa by
e-mail.
So, on Monday I went to see Mr.. Bibhas
Anon2 , the FRRO. He hardly looked at the documents (the scanned visa)
that I had with me he simply asked me to get my old passport by courier
mail within another seven days. He appeared gleeful telling me that it
is only out of "pity" that he is allowing me to stay in India for seven
more days. He was totally unimpressed by either my status as a
Professor Emeritus of the University of Michigan or my age (70+)
I called my friend in Ann Arbor again who
then sent my old passport by FedEx. Three days later the passport
arrived. Since I had to leave Kolkata for prescheduled visit to
Bangalore , my niece took it to Mr. Anon2 . But due to lack of
communication between the FRRO office and the airport immigration
department my passport had not arrived at the city office even after 9
days. My niece had to go to the FRRO's office three times once waiting
until 6 P.M. still they did not have my passport. They only promised:
"it will come soon".. At last, 12 days after my arrival, my niece got
my passport.
From this painful and anxiety provoking
experience I have learned a few valuable lessons:
1. The loud talk about "Dual Citizenship"
for Indian Americans is just a political hoax.
2. The OCI card just does not have any
value. It is just a piece of expensive junk. You still need a visa
every time you travel to India whether or not you possess an OCI card.
Only difference is that for the high price of getting an OCI card you
will get a "life long " visa. A 10-year visa is much cheaper.
3. When coming to India always consider
yourself a foreigner and bring your visa with you, there will be no
exceptions. Your OCI card is not a visa substitute.
4. In fact, you will probably be treated
worse than an ordinary foreigner arriving without a valid visa. Because
a foreigner especially a white Caucasian will at least be treated with
courtesy and probably offered a temporary visa if there is no reason to
deny it, but not you.
Please feel free to forward this mail to
any of your friends who may benefit from my experience. Especially feel
free to forward this to any influential politician or civil servant in
India that you may know..
Anon Professor Emeritus, Department of
Anesthesiology USA
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