Coming out strongly in favour of providing visas on arrival to tourists, Planning Commission ceputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Friday extended all support to the tourism ministry and said both would jointly take it up with the concerned minis
Several Indian immigrants, including 30 from Punjab, were deported from the US after being apprehended at the border. They had paid hefty sums to travel agents who promised them a better life in America, only to be met with illegal crossings and harsh detention conditions. Their dreams are now shattered, leaving them with heavy debts and a bleak future.
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Over 100 Indian immigrants, including 33 each from Haryana and Gujarat, 30 from Punjab, and several from other states, were deported from the US after undertaking perilous journeys filled with extortion and hardship. The returnees landed in Amritsar in a US military plane and are now back home, facing huge debts and emotional trauma. Many of them were lured by promises of a better life in the US but fell victim to human trafficking and extortion rings. The families of the deportees are demanding strict action against the travel agents who facilitated their illegal journeys.
India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri has arrived in Beijing for a two-day visit during which he will hold talks with Chinese officials. The visit comes amid ongoing efforts to de-escalate tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh and to resume bilateral cooperation in various fields, including the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.
The Indian government had in January 2010 launched VoA scheme to attract more foreign tourists to India.
Malaysia has scrapped the visa-on-arrival facility for Indian nationals along with those of 26 other nations, visitors from where will now have to apply for a visa from their respective countries.
Due to the huge pile-up of visa applications, the US consular officers in the neighbouring country are now adjudicating Indian visa applications where interview requirements have been waived.
Most stressful thing for most Indians planning to travel abroad is not the price of the ticket, but securing a visa.
A batch of Indian nationals, who returned to their homeland on Saturday after being evacuated from crisis-hit Syria, recalled the panic situation they faced in that country but praised the Indian Embassy there for being in 'constant touch' with them.
India on Monday announced that Pakistani senior citizens aged over 65 would be issued visas on arrival at the Wagah land border crossing from January 15 under a landmark liberalised visa agreement signed by the two countries last year. The visa on arrival facility will not be available at any other immigration or border point. Pakistani senior citizens will be issued a 45-day, single-entry visa valid for up to five places.
Indonesia will now allow visa-on-arrival facility for tourists from 14 countries, including India, in an effort to boost foreign arrivals.
Initially the visa will be offered for two weeks, an official said. Currently, nationals of 35 countries are granted visas on arrival at entry points, including Bahrain International Airport and King Fahad Causeway. The visitors should carry a valid passport and a return ticket and provide either hotel reservation details or family contacts in Bahrain for visas on arrival.
Giving a new fillip to its relations with Pakistan, India has started visa on arrival facility for senior citizens of that country.
Iran has urged the Indian government to relax its visa norms and extend the facility of visa-on-arrival for its citizens who are visiting India, a senior diplomat said on Friday. Hassan Nourian, Consul General of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Hyderabad, said currently over 10,000 Iranian students are pursuing studies in various educational institutions in India.
The decision to extend visa on arrival facility to Indians was taken during discussions between visiting External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his Ethiopian counterpart Seyoum Mesfin in the picturesque capital city of Addis Ababa.
The scheme is allowed for a maximum validity of 30 days with single entry facility by the immigration officers in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata airports on payment of a fee of $60 or equivalent amount in Indian rupees per passenger, including children.
Over 23,000 Indian students, mostly studying medicine, are reportedly stuck back home due to COVID visa restrictions.
The Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata airports can issue this visa.
Egypt has approved a visa on arrival scheme for Indians wishing to travel across the country.
The Prime Minister said India was ready to support the setting up of a Trade Office in New Delhi to promote trade between India and Pacific Island countries.
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Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar said the proposed new ruled were among measures taken to overcome the problem of illegal immigrants. "The social visit pass replaces the visas-on-arrival which was discontinued in April," Syed Hamid told Parliament on Thursday.
Visitors from 11 countries will be eligible to get a VoA from May 31 at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, GMR said.
The US needs to understand that it could potentially lose out on attracting several Netravalkars in the future if it curbs the influx of such industrious Indian immigrants, argues Vishal Menon.
In a bid to promote tourism, India may allow issuance of visa on arrival, sometime in 2009. Infrastructure for such a provision is also likely to be ready only by next year, when the airports in Delhi and Mumbai will be upgraded. About 5 million tourists came to India last year (2007) against 4.45 million in 2006. The foreign exchange earnings from tourists are estimated at about $12 billion in 2007 against about $9 billion last year.
The only son of JKNPP founder Bhim Singh has apologised to Prime Minister Modi for participating in an anti-government protest in February last year that led to him being blacklisted by the High Commission.
It was supposed to be a happy journey to London, one that the Imam family had been planning for the past two months. Everything was set - except the visa, which did not arrive in time for one of its members. "Visa was the villain...As a consequence, half of the family of four will be in London today and the other half at home in India and the US, respectively," Sanjar Imam, director of travel firm Panache World, wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday.
Indian tourists travelling to Malaysia can now avail the 'visa on arrival' facility and can invest in real estate and property in Malaysia.
Tourist visa on arrival for 40 more countries including US, UK and Germany could become a reality soon.
Visitors from India and 22 other countries will now be able to get visas on arrival at the international airports in Malaysia from September 1.
He arrived at the CBI headquarters early in the morning to face the investigation team. The questioning is likely to continue throughout the day with a lunch break, they said.
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A special court had ordered him to join the CBI investigation within 16 hours of his arrival from the United Kingdom and Europe, where he had gone with the permission of the Supreme Court and the special court itself.
Annu Dhankar, who police referred to as 'Lady Don', was nabbed near the Indo-Nepal border in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh.
Indians planning to visit Sri Lanka will no longer get their visas on arrival from September 30, with the government scraping the facility to foreigners, except visitors from Singapore and Maldives.
More than half of the Pakistan team arrived in Bengaluru only six hours ahead of their match against India on Wednesday due to unavailability of tickets on a single flight.
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