Veritas1

This tourist advisory has appeared on the HCIL website in the last couple of days:

http://hcilondon.in/tourist_advisory.php

The Telegraph has reported figures showing a large drop (39%) in incoming tourists from UK to Goa in November 2009 - this really will not help the travel industry promoting holidays to India, particularly repeat visitors who tend to be retirees. The sheer customer inconvenience of this procedure, coupled with the fact that it is advised not to book before obtaining a visa is already making many consider other Asian countries with friendlier visa regimes towards this lucrative repeat sector of the winter holiday market.

poppetjay

My friend has has just informed me that she has been refused another 6 month visa, and has to stay in the UK for 2 months, she is married to a goan and has a 9 month old baby (PIO in the offices in Delhi awaiting approval) goa is her home with her husband she is Danish,, wheres her and her babies human rights !!!

k800mer

Whilst I feel sorry for your friends plight I seem to remember that some years ago the rules on automatic right to live in the UK for foreigners marrying a UK national were changed so there is no automatic right of entry. Your Danish friend is using her EU rights to be in the UK but would her husband not need a visa or permission to come go to the UK to live? If she gets a 6 month visa she will have the same problem if she needs to renew it. She would be better off if her husband went to Delhi and gave 'presents' to the officials responsible for granting her the PIO card so that it came through quickly.
Incidently, all the people I know that left the country for Christmas have now returned. It would seem that the two month rule comes into force when visas issued before the rule came into place run out.

a_f_d

but those rules only apply to T visas and she should be entitled to an X - not only that but according to this thread on IM she MUST have an X to get a PIO card and she had better get it in the UK!
"The story from the Govt. (Delhi) : You can not go from Tourist visa to PIO directly. You must convert to Entry Visas first and then apply for PIO. But, we have 'temporarily' suspended conversion of Tourist visas to Entry Visas. Hence, you can not get a PIO card from this office right now."

AndyD 8-)#

poppetjay

the visa rule doesnt apply to people that have current visas returning to goa only if you are renewing a visa, thank you for your comments but you have told me all what i already know... goa delayed their application for PIO status and now it is in Delhi awaiting approval, but she had to go home as her visa was up, so rather than risk breaking the law by staying she went home to renew it, and she couldnt apply for an extension as it was a 6 month tourist visa.

a_f_d

You've lost me:
# she should have been able to change her T visa to an X in India (tho' it has been reported that this facility has been suspended).

# as the spouse of an Indian she may have to wait a year (two years?) for a PIO card BUT she is entitled to an X visa** so why did she apply for a T???

* which does not come under the 2mth rule
AndyD 8-)#

poppetjay

they wont give her any visa T or X end of story she appiled in the UK for either, and the paperwork for her PIO was cocked up in Goa and she took the paperwork herself to delhi but thats pending.....

But she was on a T visa which ran out so thats where the rule applys, they wont issue her with a T visa (if they had she would have to wait 2 months) anyway ,they wont issue her with a X visa either so she's stuffed sometimes these things dont always follow the rule book!!!!

k800mer

Poppetjay you did say earlier that your friend had to wait two months not that she had been refused any kind of visa. Thats a totally different situation.
You did not say where her child is, if her child is in India and has an Indian passport perhaps she can appeal to the Indian High Commission on compassionate grounds.

noni

Speaking to friends on the beach to-day they got back into Goa no problem. They have been back in the UK for only 5 weeks and were unaware of the
new rule. They used their original 6 months multi entry visa.

a_f_d

Can you do that?
Assuming her husband has property in Goa and/or is an Indian Citizen, she is not entitled to a tourist visa. She IS entitled to an X.

AndyD 8-)#

Bryson7

Hi Poppetjay,
Where does it say that this new visa rule doesn't apply to current visa holders? just want to put my mind at rest. Thank you.
Regards Bryson

poppetjay

she has been rrefused another tourist visa because of the 2 month break !!! that she was told she could only apply for at the moment,
her child is with her in the UK

poppetjay

its been my understanding that the rule only applys if you are going to get a new visa..... my friends went to Nepal to renew their visas as they wanted to spend more time in india travelling REFUSED point blank on their way home as we speak

poppetjay

like everything they make up the rules as they go along, her husband is a goan, and thats the only visa they would give her hence she is now not entitled to reenter for 2 months..

avocadogreen

The new rule requiring a two-month gap between visits on a tourist visa does NOT apply only to people applying for a new visa. It applies to all tourist visas, including existing ones, regardless of duration or the nationality of the person holding the visa.

Sorry, but poppetjay is just wrong.

However, because the rule is new (and was implemented with no prior warning), a number of people who were caught by surprise when returning to India after a short absence have reported being allowed to re-enter India without having complied with the new rule, but with the caveat that they were being allowed back in "this time" but would be expected to comply with the new rule in the future. They were certainly not told that the rule would apply only to any new visa issued in the future, and it would be anomolous if that were the case, as then people who hold 5- and 10-year Tourist visas (who many originally thought were the only people to whom the new rule applied) might not have to comply with the rule for years.