Nishant: I do not think your friends can expect any action from the FRRO at this late hour. They should visit the Ministry of Home Affairs, Jaisalmer House on Mansingh Road in New Delhi and petition the officer in-charge of renewal of visas to Taiwan nationals; the MHA should be able to resolve the residence permit issue as well. It will help if they can reach out to the Embassy of Taiwan in New Delhi and have an officer there vouch for their credentials.
- Anil Kumar On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 5:58 PM, Nishant Shah <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi All, > I have 2 friends from Taiwan who are right now in India, studying for > their Ph.D. and seem to be in some sort of a soup with the immigration > authorities. So here is a quick recap of events: > 1. The students registered with an autonomous research centre for their > Ph.D. course work. This is not a state-recognised centre but the > qualification from the coursework results in a University registration. > However, during their course work, they could not come in as students so > they took a tourist visa and completed their qualifications. > 2. Last month, they also resigstered at the University as bona fide > students and now have all their documentation in hand. In the completion of > the course work and the registration at the University, they had to leave > India once and then come back into the country. When they came back the > second time, they did not register with the FRRO because they thought they > had already done it once - their bad - and went about their way to getting > everything else in place to apply for a student visa. > 3. Their current visa expires on Thursday and there is still some lethargy > from the FRRO to convert their visa. Additionally, they are told that > because they didn't register the second time they came into the country, > they cannot leave because they don't have a 'residence permit' which the > immigration authorities at the Indian airport will need in order for them > to leave. At the same time, there seems to be no indication from the FRRO > about when they will get their visa extension and if they will get it. So > they are now scared of becoming illegal residents once their visa expires > on Thursday, and they can no longer legally stay in India, but also, > apparently can't leave the country. > > So to sort out this complicated thing, we need help. If you know a > competent immigration lawyer who will be able to sort this out (for not too > hefty a fee, please, they are both students who are funding their entire > education already) or contacts within the FRRO in Bangalore, it would be > hugely useful. > > Otherwise, if you have any tips on what should be done (we are going to > call the consulate first thing tomorrow morning, hopefully it will be open > despite Muharram), do please write in to me. This is the time for all > (wo)men to come to the aid of the party. > > Thanks a bunch > Nishant > > -- > Nishant Shah > Director (Research), Centre for Internet and Society,( www.cis-india.org ) > Asia Awards Fellow, 2008-09 > # 00-91-9740074884 > http://www.facebook.com/nishant.shah > http://cis-india.academia.edu/NishantShah > >
