Source:
Economic Times of India23 Oct 2009, 1718 hrs IST
NEW DELHI: India is sticking to its guns on new visa rules that require foreigners to get employment visas if they have to work in the country, even as the measure-aimed mainly at low-skilled Chinese workers-inflicts collateral damage on thousands of expats from other countries engaged in white-collar jobs.
Hundreds of hassled senior and mid-level executives of several multinational companies are scrambling to comply with the new requirement and get their business visas converted to work visas while industry bodies take up their cause with the government.
Through a series of circulars in August and September, India modified rules, making it compulsory for those entering the country on 180-day business visas to have these converted into employment visas if they must work here. Expat workers have been set an October 31 deadline to leave the country and re-apply for work visas from their country of origin.
“About 3,000 foreign nationals have reapplied for visas in the right category now. Those who fail to get it must leave the country by October 31. After all, if a foreign national is employed in India, he must have the right kind of visa,” home secretary GK Pillai told ET. Cos to suffer huge losses due to changes.
The rule change was aimed mainly at the close to 25,000 low-skilled Chinese workers who are in India on business visas but working for their employers executing projects in the power, telecom and oil & gas sectors.
Read more:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/services/travel/visa-power/Foreigners-require-employment-visas-to-work-in-India/articleshow/5153376.cms
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