Nov. 24 – India’s visa rules has forced Chinese engineers on business visas to return back home to apply for working visas inadvertently delaying power projects of 4,000 megawatts capacity commissioning dates for March.
“The Ministry of Power has requested the Ministry of Home Affairs to expedite issuing of employment visas to the Chinese engineers so that plants can be completed on time,” junior power minister Bharatsinh Solanki told lawmakers in a letter reported The Economic Times. “These projects are in advanced stages of commissioning and urgently required the services of Chinese engineers for the commissioning activities.”
India changed visa policies when it found out that foreign nationals on a business visa were using it to work in the country illegally. They were then instructed to leave India by Oct. 31 to apply for an India employment visa in their country of origin.
Business visas will now only be issued to businessmen. Last year, India issued 58,658 business visas to Chinese nationals while 26,104 business visas were issued for the first six months of this year. Usually a business visa will be valid for six months although there have been a few 10 year business visas issued to foreign investors setting up joint ventures in the country.
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This is a result of three things: a lack of clarity concerning Indian visa issuance and applicable double tax treaties, a lack of detail concerning responsibilities and liabilities in the commissioning contract, and the deliberate migration of Chinese labor to India without payment of taxes or welfare to dispossessed workers affected by China’s economic downturn by their State owned employer. An Indian cock-up which China exploited, the result of which doesn’t satisfy either party. This issue should have been taken into consideration prior to the knee jerk reaction by Indian immigration and the tax dept.