Deploring the arrest of Deputy Consul General in New York, Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh on Friday summoned United States Ambassador Nancy Powell to convey India's "shock" over "absolutely unacceptable" treatment meted out to the senior Indian diplomat.
The circular, issued on Saturday, also reiterated that all visas as well as e-visas issued to Chinese nationals before February 5 have been suspended with immediate effect.
The Blinken visit indicated that the Biden administration is still somewhat tentative about the specifics of its relations with India, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan, who has served multiple stints at India's embassy in Washington, DC.
In a strong retaliation, India on Tuesday initiated a slew of steps to strip US diplomats and their families of privileges including withdrawing all airport passes and stopping import clearances for the US embassy, terming as "barbaric" the arrest and strip searching of India's Deputy Consul General in New York Devyani Khobragade.
On Sunday, India airlifted a second batch of 323 stranded Indians and seven Maldivian citizens from coronavirus-hit Wuhan city, taking the total number of people evacuated to 654.
'The Government of India should insist on strong action against those responsible in the instant case while discouraging our media from blowing the incident out of proportion.'
The government of India may be rethinking its rule barring foreign visitors from coming back to India within 60 days of their earlier visit unless they take special permission from the embassies or consulates.When the rule was initially introduced, then minister of state in external affairs ministry Shashi Tharoor had tweeted that terrorist Ajamal Kasab and his associates did not need visas to come to Mumbai to carry out the 26/11 attack.
Amid growing concerns of surging COVID-19 cases, the US has announced that it will waive the in-person interview requirement for a range of visa applicants during the entire year in 2022, including for H-1B workers and students, many of whom are from India. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.
'When the Taliban took over there was a genuine fear that they will harm me, but right now that fear is not there.'
With the completion of the US-India civilian nuclear cooperation agreement, India's Minister for Power Sushil Kumar Shinde has said that India is open for business and American companies can avail themselves of the opportunities by contacting the Indian embassy or the consulates across the country for the necessary guidance.
"Workers in acute distress, medical cases, pregnant women, the elderly and the group of Indians stranded in Dubai Airport," are likely to get first priority when the government resumes services for repatriation, he said.
India imported $62 billion of Chinese goods last year.
The case of 100 Indian workers who had alleged slave treatment at US shipyard, is keenly being followed by the Indian consulate. These workers had accused their employer Signal International of tricking them into coming to the US. These workers were forced to live in subhuman conditions and were made to pay $1000 as house rent. They are demanding of case of human trafficking against their employer from the US Department of Justice. They have been living there since a year.
India on Thursday made it clear that paper visas stapled on passports by the Chinese embassy or consulates are not considered valid for travel out of the country.
There are an estimated 250,000 Indian students in the US, a significantly large numbers of whom are stranded due to the sudden closer of the universities and asked to vacate their hostels and follow stay-at-home order issued by the authorities to contain the spread of the pandemic in the country.
'Oommen Chandy always had time for his people and valued their voices.' 'There was no rest for him as long as the betterment of his fellow citizens was at stake.' Ambassador Venu Rajamony, who knew the former Kerala chief minister for half a century, salutes a beloved leader who worked tirelessly for the welfare of its people.
For health enthusiasts in the US, popular yoga guru Baba Ramdev is scheduled to conduct a virtual session on common yoga protocol with postures (asanas), breathing techniques (pranayama) and meditation during an online event organised by the Indian Consulate in Houston in collaboration with various community organisations.
It was only a matter of hours before I would be declared persona non grata; all my work would turn to ashes, and I would be revealed as a typical untrustworthy Indian. I steeled myself for the axe to fall.
Noting that Indians have been benefited most from the H-1B and L1 work visas, a senior US official has said there have been some cases of abuse of these visa categories in India.
Dr Arun Vakil, US visa specialist, discusses VFS web site and how to secure your dream US visa.
The Kuwait embassy in New Delhi and the consulate in Mumbai stopped stamping work visas for Indians from December 20 after Indian authorities introduced new employment conditions to protect its nationals working abroad which were rejected by Kuwait.
September 11 is a "stark reminder" of the continuing threat of terrorism and the world must unite against this menace, India's Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu has said, as he paid homage to the victims of the terror attacks at the 9/11 Memorial here.
The celebrations in China will be second biggest in the world after India.
The affected nurse is being treated and is recovering well, junior foreign minister V Muraleedharan said. Meanwhile, China has locked down five cities, including Wuhan, suspending all public transport in an unprecedented move to contain the coronavirus that has infected over 630 people and left 17 others dead.
The problems stem from a hardware failure in a State Department.
'Kindly have us airlifted at the earliest. We are in a very bad situation here.'
A large car caravan of protesters from various parts of California blocked the traffic on the Bay Bridge on Saturday as they moved towards the Indian Consulate in San Francisco, while several hundreds gathered in downtown Indianapolis.
The bodies of six Indians, who were killed in a road accident in Pennyslvania on Saturday last, will be flown back after completion of certain formalities which is expected to be over by Wednesday. Indian Embassy and the Consulate General in New York are extending all possible assistance for completion of the formalities.
Sitharaman also highlighted the steps taken by the government to achieve ease of doing business by digitisation of approvals and making more stable policies to make India a favourable destination for investors.
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The United States has refuted media reports that said its embassy and consulates in India are paying lower wages to the Indian staff employed there or violating any local laws in paying them.
Around 1,20,000 Indian-Americans reside across Florida.
American whistleblower Edward Snowden, currently sheltered in the transit zone of Moscow airport, has sought asylum in 20 countries, including India.
The State Department says it informed the Indian embassy in Washington, DC in Deptember about the troubles that awaited diplomat Devyani Khobragade, who was arrested on the charges of alleged fraud in New York on December 12. A media statement issued by M Sridharan, the Counsellor (Press, Information and Culture), at the embassy clarifies the sequence of events.
India's Consul General in Haiti Marie Andrine is safe following the devastating earthquake there, but there is no information yet on the 60-100 Indian civilians living in the country.
With the US education system operating independently from the government, universities are adopting varying strategies when it comes to Covid vaccination.
'An ambassador may not be sure whether there would be a war next month, but prudence requires him to take action to see to it that people leave early.' 'Because once the war starts, it will be very difficult to move out.'
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar briefed the leaders on the latest situation in Afghanistan after the Taliban captured power there last week.
Asserting that its demand after Devyani Khobragade's arrest is not unreasonable, India has said the case is not about mistreatment of a domestic employee but rather of US laws being gamed for immigration purposes.
'Evacuating' Devyani's maid's family from India on T visas -- associated with severe sex or labour trafficking... The maximum number of persons thus evacuated by the US from foreign countries last year was from India... A thorough investigation of this is required at India's end,' says former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal, 'with the US warned that such interference in India's judicial system will not be tolerated.'
Indians in countries like the United States, China, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Egypt, Israel and South Africa celebrated the day with hoisting of the national flag and singing of patriotic songs.
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