The US Supreme Court has denied the application of Tahawwur Rana, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, seeking a stay on his extradition to India. Rana, currently detained in Los Angeles, had submitted the application after Associate Justice Elena Kagan initially denied it. Despite a renewed appeal, the Supreme Court ultimately rejected the request.
Ritika Gupta, a study abroad expert and founder of Aaera Consultants, explains how Germany's new visa rules will affect international students and working professionals.
Many unauthorised migrants originate from Punjab and Gujarat, states known for high migration aspirations rather than political instability.
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Pakistan-born Canadian national and close associate of David Coleman Headley, is set to be extradited to India from the US. Rana was involved in the planning and execution of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, which killed 166 people, including six Americans. He assisted Headley in obtaining a visa for India, established a front company in Mumbai, and helped in reconnaissance of targets in Mumbai and New Delhi. Rana was convicted in the US for providing material support to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and sentenced to 14 years in prison. His extradition to India will allow authorities to question him about his involvement in the Mumbai attacks and potentially uncover new information about the role of Pakistani state actors.
The obsession for migrating to the US is visible mostly in Majha and Doaba regions of Punjab, he further said.
The processing time for students applying under the Student Direct Stream (SDS) was significantly shorter and approval rates higher, something that will change after Canada ended the scheme on Friday.
'If this is true, the Election Commission should come forward with data and officially confirm it.'
'Such unpredictability is motivating families to seek destinations with a more stable educational system.'
Pananjay Tiwari, founder and director of Impel Overseas Education, explains how the new changes can impact Indian students who are applying to US universities and those who are already studying in the US.
'Brazil, China, Colombia and India each had more than 2,000 of their citizens overstaying student/exchange visas, with India having the highest number (7,000).'
A US federal judge in Houston has declared illegal a federal policy that prevents the deportation of hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants, including hundreds of Indians, brought to the US as children, but noted that the government can continue to process renewals of its current recipients.
With stricter policies dampening the US/UK dream, Germany, Ireland and New Zealand are emerges as new study abroad destinations for Indian students.
Australia's new student visa rules focuses on stricter eligibility, higher financial and English language requirements among others.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar clarified the process of deportation of Indian nationals from the US, stating that it is not a new phenomenon and has been ongoing for several years. He assured the Rajya Sabha that the government is engaging with the US to ensure that the deported Indians are not mistreated during their transit. Jaishankar also emphasized the need for strong action against the illegal migration industry while ensuring ease of visas for legitimate travellers. The minister provided details about the number of Indians deported from the US since 2009, highlighting the peak in 2019 with 2,042 deportations.
The other three crore -- nearly 40 percent -- will have to provide one of the 11 listed documents to establish their place or date of birth.
Tahawwur Rana, accused of involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, is expected to be extradited to India from the United States soon. The US Supreme Court denied his last-ditch effort to stop his extradition, moving him closer to being handed over to Indian authorities. Rana's extradition is expected to help probe agencies expose the role of Pakistani state actors behind the attacks and shed new light on the investigation. He is associated with Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the 26/11 attacks.
Tahawwur Rana, accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, has renewed his application to the US Supreme Court seeking a stay of his extradition to India. The Supreme Court will hear the application next month. Rana, currently detained in Los Angeles, claims his extradition would violate US law and expose him to torture in India due to his health and Muslim background. The US government has denied these claims and authorized his surrender to India, citing the Extradition Treaty between the two countries. The Supreme Court's decision will determine if Rana will face justice in India or remain in the United States.
Uncertainty clouds US fall intake as Trump's visa ban on Harvard raises fears of wider policy shifts, pushing Indian students to explore alternative destinations.
Rediff reports on the reasons behind this dramatic shift.
"The open-ended nature of Section 6A has, with the passage time, become more prone to abuse due to the advent of forged documents to establish, inter-alia (among other things), wrong date of entry into Assam, inaccurate lineage, falsified government records created by corrupt officials, dishonest corroboration of the date of entry by other relatives so as to aid illegal immigrants who are otherwise not eligible under Section 6A by virtue of having entered into Assam after March 24,1971," he noted in a separate 127-page dissenting judgment.
India has launched two special category visa for international students intending to pursue higher education in academic institutions in the country.
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the mastermind behind the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, has been taken into 18-day custody by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in India. Rana was extradited from the United States after years of legal battles and will be questioned to unravel the complete conspiracy behind the attacks.
'We used to get 400-500 applications for Canada on a yearly basis until last year, but this has gone down to just 70 this year.'
As the US gets tougher with visas, the prayers of US-bound devotees in India are getting more fervent, and their purse strings looser. Called Visa Hanuman temples (there are half a dozen all over India), some of them ask for a 'fee'.
In June, President Joe Biden issued a massive immigration relief to non-citizens offering a path to citizenship to the non-citizen spouses and children of American nationals.
Harpreet Singh alias Happy Passia alias Jora, an alleged terrorist who had illegally entered the US, was arrested by the FBI and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Enforcement and Removal Operations in Sacramento.
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a key accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, was brought to India on Thursday after being "successfully extradited " from the US, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said. The 64-year-old Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin landed in Delhi in a special plane on Thursday evening, ending days of speculation of when and how he will be extradited, officials said. The NIA said in a statement that it had secured the successful extradition after years of sustained and concerted efforts to bring to justice the key conspirator behind the 2008 mayhem that claimed 166 lives. Rana is accused of conspiring with David Coleman Headley alias Daood Gilani, and operatives of designated terrorist organisations Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami (HUJI) along with other Pakistan-based co-conspirators, to carry out the the three-day terror siege of India's financial capital.
'The policies announced by his administration are implemented faster.'
Called the US Citizenship Act of 2021, the legislation modernises the immigration system, and also proposes to eliminate the per country cap for employment-based green cards, a move that would benefit thousands of Indian IT professionals whose current wait period for legal permanent residency runs into several decades.
This was Rana's last legal chance not to be extradited to India. Earlier, he lost a legal battle in several federal courts, including the US Court of Appeals for the North Circuit in San Francisco.
As the number of students seeking higher education abroad continues to rise, several countries are implementing new rules. Gaurav Batra, CEO and founder of Infinite Group highlights how these changes will impact Indians who are planning to study abroad.
Ranjani Srinivasan, a citizen and national of India, entered the United States on a F-1 student visa as a doctoral student in Urban Planning at Columbia University, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement on Friday. It added that Srinivasan was "involved in activities supporting" Hamas, a terrorist organisation.
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 what can be good news for hundreds of Indian IT professionals seeking the H-1B work visa, the US' immigration agency has decided to conduct a rare second lottery for the most sought-after visas to decide on the successful applicants who could not make it in the first random selection. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said on Thursday that a decision was taken after determining that the computerised draw of lots for H-1B visas conducted early this year did not give them enough numbers of the Congressional mandated H-1B visas. The H-1B visa, the most sought-after among Indian IT professionals, is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.
An estimated 46 million foreign-born persons resided in the United States in 2022, approximately 14 per cent of the total US population of 333 million, according to American Community Survey data from the US Census Bureau.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is the federal agency responsible to process the visas, on Monday started accepting applications for H-1B visas for the fiscal year 2019, beginning October 1.
rediffGURU Geeta Ratra offers expert advice on international courses, student visas, immigration processes and more.
It has been the preferred visa for Indian IT companies and has helped them keep costs down and gain a margin advantage over multinational players by sending engineers to the US.
As a result, about 1,80,000 would be eligible to work in the US.
The Indian IT companies, which account for a large number of H-1B applications, are likely to face the additional financial burden because of this proposed increase in H-1B filing fees.
