These things - at least in Bombay - are best directly handled at the FRRO.
In some cases, a bribe has proved handy. In no case has a lawyer proved handy. On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 5:58 PM, Nishant Shah <itsnish...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi All, > I have 2 friends from Taiwan who are right now in India, studying for > their Ph.D. and seem to be in some sort of a soup with the immigration > authorities. So here is a quick recap of events: > 1. The students registered with an autonomous research centre for their > Ph.D. course work. This is not a state-recognised centre but the > qualification from the coursework results in a University registration. > However, during their course work, they could not come in as students so > they took a tourist visa and completed their qualifications. > 2. Last month, they also resigstered at the University as bona fide > students and now have all their documentation in hand. In the completion of > the course work and the registration at the University, they had to leave > India once and then come back into the country. When they came back the > second time, they did not register with the FRRO because they thought they > had already done it once - their bad - and went about their way to getting > everything else in place to apply for a student visa. > 3. Their current visa expires on Thursday and there is still some lethargy > from the FRRO to convert their visa. Additionally, they are told that > because they didn't register the second time they came into the country, > they cannot leave because they don't have a 'residence permit' which the > immigration authorities at the Indian airport will need in order for them > to leave. At the same time, there seems to be no indication from the FRRO > about when they will get their visa extension and if they will get it. So > they are now scared of becoming illegal residents once their visa expires > on Thursday, and they can no longer legally stay in India, but also, > apparently can't leave the country. > > So to sort out this complicated thing, we need help. If you know a > competent immigration lawyer who will be able to sort this out (for not too > hefty a fee, please, they are both students who are funding their entire > education already) or contacts within the FRRO in Bangalore, it would be > hugely useful. > > Otherwise, if you have any tips on what should be done (we are going to > call the consulate first thing tomorrow morning, hopefully it will be open > despite Muharram), do please write in to me. This is the time for all > (wo)men to come to the aid of the party. > > Thanks a bunch > Nishant > > -- > Nishant Shah > Director (Research), Centre for Internet and Society,( www.cis-india.org ) > Asia Awards Fellow, 2008-09 > # 00-91-9740074884 > http://www.facebook.com/nishant.shah > http://cis-india.academia.edu/NishantShah > >
