Interesting contribution from a concerned citizen

I recently received this letter from an American citizen who has some serious concerns over treatment overseas. Have a look and please offer your opinion.

Dear P.V

I am writing to you as one of the exhausted, ignored Americans, wanting to know if you can help get our voice out.

I am writing to seek your attention on how State department is ignoring American citizens to gain political footing in India. 

Following are the details on the issue of Two hundred thousand plus American citizens facing profiling based on their  origin at Indian embassy and subsequent consulates in United States when applying for any kind of visa to travel to India and US department of state is awfully quiet. 

 

The issue is not related to Issuance or Denial of Indian visa as it is the absolute right of Indian embassy to Issue or deny a visa to any applicant under their laws.

 

The issue, however is the refusal of Indian embassy to recognize some Two hundred thousand U.S citizens as United States nationals based on their origin and refusing to accept their U.S Passport as valid travel document for Visa application. 

 

Since November 2009, India embassy in United states asked its outsourcing company, Travisa outsourcing to stop accepting U.S passport from U.S citizens born in Pakistan as Valid travel document eligible for Visa application to India. The reason that was provided to applicants after multiple inquiries was as follows in the words of Travisa representative :

 

Thank you for contacting the India Visa Center. As mentioned on our website, dual citizens of USA and Pakistan must apply with a valid Pakistani passport. As a naturalized US citizen, you maintain Pakistani citizenship, whether you are aware of it or not.

Thank you,

Virginie Ems-Bleneau

India Visa Center-Chicago

Travisa Outsourcing

www.travisaindia.com

(312)346-2367 ext 4

(312)346-2930 (fax)

 

 

This response however fails to address the concerns that Dual nationality is allowed under U.S law and under U.S Law, every US citizen, regardless of his/her country of origin is still accommodated the status of a U.S citizens and is protected by the U.S laws and bears no distinction from Natural born US citizens, once he/she takes the Oath of allegiance and has immigrated legally into the United States of America. 

 

Hence, according to U.S-India Travel agreements and Visa reciprocity between two countries, India does not have the right to Pick and Choose which United states citizen it will consider as a U.S National and which One it will consider as a National of any other country he/she originated from. 

This discriminatory policy limits US citizens travel inside India as US-India has travel agreements in which US citizens do not have to register to Police upon arrival, They can travel without hindrance, They are allowed to travel thru any airport in India and can avail US embassy support when needed as an American citizen

While, if traveling as Pakistani citizen, US citizen will have to register with police upon arrival, will be limited to only three airports to travel in or out of India and will be treated as a Pakistani citizen if he or she faces any problem and will be DENIED the right to access US embassy services in the time of distress.

 

This policy also fails to bear any merit on its own as Government of India is not implementing this policy consistently to all countries who allow Dual nationality and is only Targeting United states citizens with this policy. Which singles out United states as the only country in which its Citizens are openly not considered US citizens by India and serves a counterproductive measure for U.S-India friendship.

 

For Example: In United Kingdom, British Nationals holding both British and Pakistan citizenship by default due to their birthplace being as Pakistan, are allowed to apply for India Visa on their BRITISH passport and are not discriminated against due to their dual citizenship status.

Following is the excerpt from India visa instructions in United Kingdom:

 

Additional documents required from persons not holding a UK passport or holding dual nationalities or originating from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and China :

. British passport holders of Pakistani origin:

i. General application form.
ii. A notarised invitation from relative(s) in India with a photo ID.
iii. A copy of employer's letter OR A chartered accountant's certificate (if self-employed) OR An unemployment allowance letter / disability allowance letter / benefit letter (if unemployed), Letter from school (if student) AND latest one month bank statement.

Please Note:  There is an additional referral fee of £10.00 per application.

 

Note: Please note that the processing time will be longer in these cases and the visa issuance is subject to clearance from the competent authority.

 

 

 

This clearly states that British passport holders of Pakistan origin are allowed to apply and travel on British passport to India.

 

Secondly, Indian government, when on one hand is openly profiling American citizens based on their ethnicity, here is how India itself is protesting profiling faced by Indian citizens when they apply for chinese visa.

In an exclusive interview to the ANI, India External Affairs Minister, S.M. Krishna asked China not to discriminate among the Indian nationals while issuing visas to travel to that country.

“It has come to the notice of the Government of India that China is issuing different visas to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. We are taking up the issue with Chinese Government,” he said.

Krishna said: “We will tell them that visa related issue should be uniform, there should not be any discrimination among the Indian nationals while issuing visas.”

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According to bilateral travel agreement with India, India should accept a US citizens passport as valid travel document and issue or deny a visa on that. While India is certainly not doing that, US State department has not even issued a public statement regarding this fiasco and is continuing to issue visas to Indian nationals without any pressure on Indian government to fix this issue. 

This clearly sends a signal to masses of American citizens that State department does not care about them and obviously treats them differently than other US citizens.  

Please let me know if you have any questions

Thanks

S.Noman