Illegal immigration hurts genuine visitors
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Sanjay Pinto

Tuesday, March 20, 2007 (Chennai):


The tightening of US visa regimes has had an impact on Indians who desire to visit America.

For instance, Divya Ramprasad has not been able to come to terms with her bitter experience at the US visa office.

The young fitness trainer wanted to visit her sister in Boston for 25 days, but her application was turned down not once but thrice.

She says that the fact that she is single made the visa officer suspicious that she might be a potential immigrant.

"The rule doesn't give you the benefit of doubt. I wanted to visit my sister, but just because I am young and unmarried, I was not considered," said Divya Ramprasad, US visa applicant.

But call it Murphy's Law, because when advertising executive Shivani Mittal went to the visa office, she got a 10-year multiple entry visa in one shot.

Ironically, she is from Divya's college with more or less the same social credentials and is also single.

"I just took an hour's lunch break from work and got my visa! Everything was well-organized and I wasn't desperate. So it showed," said Shivani Mittal, US visa applicant.

Jump in applications

The US visa office in Chennai conducts around 1,600 visa interviews everyday, and is credited with issuing the highest number of visas in the country.

Since 2004, there has been a 40 per cent jump in applications. In 2005-2006, this office issued over 1.4 lakh visas.

Of the 22 types of visa grants, the tourist visa, which Divya applied for, is the most common, and if the Chennai consulate is to be believed, then Divya's application is among a meager 20 per cent that are rejected.

"It comes down to that applicant convincing that officer for that particular class of visa. There is nothing personal. May I tell you that 80 per cent of tourist visa applications are accepted," said Mark Fry, Consul and Chief of Consular Services.

A visa interview usually lasts about three minutes. And in those minutes, there is no magic formula to get the visa.

Illegal immigration

However, the one important factor, officials say, could be one's ability to demonstrate his/her need to return to India, because the illegal immigration racket is getting bigger by the day.

The racket, in fact, is so common that it has also made its way into Bollywood.

For instance, in Naseeruddin Shah's directorial debut, Yun Hota to Kya Hota, the street smart Raju Bhai, who organizes Gujarati shows in the US, uses them as a cover to run a very profitable illegal migration racket.

The account is probably inspired by the infamous case against bhangra pop king Daler Mehendi and his brother Shamsher.

In fact, according to the US Department of Homeland Security, till 2005, there were around 2,80,000 unauthorized Indian immigrants in the US.

And often the arrests of such illegal immigrants in the US make headlines, thereby making the visa office more cautious.
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