India imposes re-entry limit on foreigners

Stung by allegations that a US citizen with a long-term multiple-entry visa was the scout for the Mumbai terror attacks, India’s security apparatus has decided to bar foreign visitors re-entering India for two months after any trip to the country.

The sudden imposition of the new policy at the height of India’s busy winter season – which brings a surge of foreign holiday makers, business visitors, and academics – has generated confusion and anxiety, exacerbated by erratic implementation.
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“Foreign passports are now stamped on exit to indicate that the bearer cannot re-enter India within two months of exit unless special permission is obtained,” the US embassy in India advised its citizens this week.

Both the UK and the US, have formally expressed their concern and urged Indian authorities to rethink the new rules, hurriedly drafted after David Headley, a US citizen of Pakistani origin, was accused of helping plan the Mumbai terror attacks during repeated visits to the country on a multiple-entry visa.

The furore comes as New Delhi is trying to aggressively promote itself as a tourist destination with a slick “Incredible India” advertising campaign. Despite its wealth of attractions, India received just 5.3m foreign tourists in 2008, up 5.6 per cent from 2007, but just a fraction of the nearly 14m visitors much-smaller Thailand attracts each year.

Indian officials say the requirement of the two-month “cooling off period” for foreign tourists is intended to deter misuse of five and 10-year multiple entry tourist visas, now used by thousands of foreigners to live in India while avoiding the complex process – and heavy tax liability – of establishing residency in the country.

However, the US embassy said the policy is also hitting genuine tourists who want to use India as a base from which to travel to other popular tourist destinations in the region.

It said an American family travelling to Sri Lanka from India was told they would need a special permission to re-enter India, while the visiting college-age children of a US businessman in India were told they could not re-enter if they left for a side trip to Thailand, after just three days in India.

The embassy said foreigners holding other visa types had also been affected. “There has been some confusion about what rules are in force and what rules are not,” said one Western diplomat.

India also recently tightened rules governing business visas to crack-down on tens of thousands of unskilled, and semi-skilled Chinese labourers who were working for Chinese companies on infrastructure projects in India.