Bangladesh, India should start dialogue on visa issue

Manzurul Alam Mukul: Bangladesh and India should start dialogue on the visa issue at the official level to ease sufferings of common visa seekers, sources in the Computer Science and Electronics Department of the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), Bangladesh Computer Council and Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission.

Several professors in the Computer Science and Electronics Department of the University of Dhaka said High Commission of India in Bangladesh should increase the capacity of server of Indian Visa Application Centres (IVAC) to ease sufferings of visa seekers.

DU professors expressed the views that the capacity of server of High Commission of India should be increased as the present server can only accommodate applicants for up to two months.

The DU professor said that the server could be designed in such a way that visa applicants could be contained up to 3-4 years by the High Commission of India.

He expressed the hope that diplomats of Bangladesh and Indian governments should realise the sufferings of common visa seekers and take positive notes in this regard.  

Narrating his personal experience in getting Indian visas, he said DU students throughout the year visit India as part of their education programme. Even last year students of the Computer Science and Electronics Department of the University of Dhaka faced hassles in getting e-tokens, required for getting Indian visa. However, e-token does not always ensure issuing of Indian visas, he said.

He said not only Bangladeshis face problems in getting Indian visas, but also Indians face hassles in getting Bangladeshi visas.

A director of Bangladesh Computer Council said that officials of Bangladesh and India government should start official talks on the bringing out modalities of easing sufferings of Indian visa.

Thousands of Bangladeshis are facing hassles in getting Indian visa as a number of brokers in the Dhaka, Sylhet and Chittagong cities are exploiting visa seekers by charging each person Tk 2500-10,000 for every e-token.

 

A member of Tour Operator Association of Bangladesh (TOAB) said cost of Indian visas have become costlier than cost of visa of Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Brunei and Qatar if official and unofficial costs are counted.

 
A member of Tour Operator Association of Bangladesh (TOAB) acknowledged sufferings of Bangladeshis seeking Indian visa.

Brokers in the Dhaka city are lining their pockets out of the miseries of visa seekers and charge Taka 2500-10,000 per e-ticket. Most of the Bangladeshis currently have to wait several weeks before learning whether they will be allowed to enter India after submitting their applications at visa processing centres, a major deterrent for potential visitors.

Brokers are very active in Gulshan, Banani, Uttara, Farmgate, Green Road, Fakiralpole, Motijheel, Mohammadpur and Mirpur areas. During tourist season from November to February, ordinary citizens can hardly get e-token through their computer networks. E-token is a must for applying for Indian visa. However, it does not always ensure that a person having e-token will get Indian visas. Only during summery, citizens can easily get a print of e-token during day-time.

Bangladeshis desiring to visit India must get an e-token before applying for Indian visa. Though the High Commission of India in Dhaka is aware of brokers’ dominance in matters of e-token has expressed their inability to keep the brokers at bay.

State Bank of India (SBI), the authorised agent of the High Commission of India for accepting Indian visa applications through the IVAC, receives and deliveries visa applications.  The IVAC facilities are now available in Gulshan, Motijheel, Dhanmondi and Uttara in capital Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Khulna, Rajshahi and Mymensingh.

While submitting visa applications, applicants are advised to select the correct category of visa they wish to apply for. Applicants should ensure that all documentation is genuine, complete and accurate. Applicants are advised to be vigilant about agents and middlemen and to report all such cases to the nearest police station/law enforcement authority.

A special counter for Medical Emergency Visas is available at IVAC, Gulshan. Medical emergency visa applications may be deposited on a walk-in basis at IVAC Gulshan, Dhaka even without an appointment date. Though Bangladeshis are a major contributor to the Indian tourism industry in terms of tourist arrival, India has not included its closest neighbour in its latest visa relaxation system.

Bangladesh constitutes nearly 10 per cent of the Indian in-bound tourists, according to an estimate of the Indian High Commission in Bangladesh.

However, diplomats and businessmen demand that India should give Bangladeshis on- arrival visas seeking Indian visas.
 A leader of Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) said that India would soon issue on arrival visas to Bangladeshi businessmen and tourists.

A former Foreign Secretary expressed his hope that Bangladeshis will get on arrival visas soon as the present government, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Opposition Party in Jatiya Party are eager to improve relations with India. He said BNP has warmly greeted the BJP government in India and expressed the desire that relations with India should reach a height during the days to come.

He said that the Bangladesh government under the strong leadership of Sheikh Hasina has been doing her best to improve relations with India. He said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has not given any space for breeding terrorism during the last seven years and is working with India and USA to combat militancy and terrorism in the region.
Tourists from 43 countries including Australia, Brazil, Germany and Japan are able to apply online and then receive the green light within four days, before getting their visa at an airport on arrival. Travellers from Cambodia, Singapore and Thailand are eligible for the new rules, NDTV reported.

A large number of Bangladeshis opined that the manpower in State Bank of India and High Commission should be increased to cope with increasing visa seekers. The number of visa seekers increases during puja, Eid and diwali. But the process of visa processing gets slow during puja, eid and diwali. The High Commission usually takes 60-70 days to issue tourist visas. However, medical visas that require a lot of relevant papers are issued promptly. Nowadays, High Commission of India issues tourist visas with duration of six months. 

The Bangladesh high commission offices in Kolkata and New Delhi also make delay in issuing visas to Indian citizens. According to a source of the Board of Investment of Bangladesh, some 30,000 Indians are working in the corporate sector of Bangladesh.

The bilateral trade between two countries has reached over 7.00 billion US dollars. Bangladeshi businessmen need to visit India frequently. The HCI should mull over issuing multiple-visa to business leaders.

The US embassy gives 5-year multiple visas to businessmen. The HCI should also consider issuing 5-year multiple visas to Bangladeshi businessmen.

Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in India during the Month of December 2015 were 9.13 lakh as compared to FTAs of 8.85 lakh during December 2014. There has been a growth of 3.2% in December 2015 over the same period last year. Ministry of Tourism of India has released estimates of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) on the basis of nationality-wise, port-wise data received from Bureau of Immigration (BOI) and Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) from tourism on the basis of data available from Reserve Bank of India. FTAs during the period January- December 2015 were 80.16 lakh with a growth of 4.4 percent, as compared to the FTAs of 76.79 lakh with a growth of 10.2 percent in January- December 2014.

FEEs during the month of December 2015 were Rs. 13,253 crore as compared to Rs. 12,988 crore in December 2014. The FEEs in Rupees terms during December 2015 registered a positive growth of 2.0 percent over December 2014 as compared to positive growth of 8.3 percent in December 2014.

Disclosing this, officials in the Indian Tourism Ministry said that the country earned Rs 96.11 billion of foreign exchange through tourism in October 2015.   “Bangladesh accounts for the highest share of tourist arrivals in the same period, whereas tourist arrivals from Pakistan yielded the lowest,” a government official said.

The Ministry of Tourism compiles monthly estimates of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) on the basis of nationality-wise, port-wise data received from the Bureau of Immigration (BOI) and from Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) from tourism, on the basis of data available from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The data show that India recorded 1.7 percent growth in foreign tourist arrival in October 2015 over the same period in the previous year.

Bangladesh led the top 15 source countries in terms of FTAs during October. The statistics shows that Bangladesh recorded 15.22 percent, followed by USA 12.99 percent, UK 11.31 percent, Sri Lanka 3.69 percent, Germany 3.62 percent, Canada 3.58 percent, Australia 3.37 percent, Malaysia 3.03 percent, France 3.01 percent, Nepal 2.67 percent, China 2.55 percent, Japan 2.42 percent, Russia 2.03 percent, Singapore 1.65 percent, and Pakistan 1.59 percent tourist arrivals.

These top 15 countries account for 72.73 percent of total FTAs during October this year.

The Foreign Exchange Earning (FEEs) from tourism in terms of rupees in January-October 2015 was over Rs 1 trillion, with a growth of 2.5 percent as compared to the FEE of Rs 989.01 billion which saw a growth of 16.3 percent during January-October 2014 over January- October 2013.

Over half a million Bangladeshis visit India every year. According to a source of the High Commission of India, nearly half a million visas are issued for Bangladeshis. In recent past, diplomats and staff of the Indian High Commission in Bangladesh have worked hard to improve the visa processing as thousands of Bangladeshis suffer a lot to get Indian visas. Patients had to wait in long queue to get Indian visas. The situation has improved now. The visa process has been digitalised, said an Indian diplomat.  

However, the number of Bangladeshi visa seekers has increased in recent times. Bangladesh and India should start dialogue on the visa issue at the official level to ease sufferings of common visa seekers, experts opine.

Risingbd/DHAKA/Feb 22, 2016