E-Paper
Indian mission organises visa camps in America
The Indian Embassy and its consulates have been holding successful visa camps across the US, reports Lalit K Jha.
With summer being the peak days when large number of Indo-Americans visits their country of origin, the Indian Embassy in the US and its four Consulates have been holding successful visa camps across the country as a goodwill gesture and to facilitate quick – same day -- issuing of visa.
The latest one is being held Saturday at Philadelphia in Pennsylvania by the Indian Consulate at New York. The day long visa camp, organized in association of the Malayalee Association of Greater Philadelphia, is expected to issue more than 250 visas during the day-long camp.
Nearly 400 visas were issued by the San Francisco Consulate at its day-long visa camp held at the Sanatan Dharm Cultural Centre in Los Angeles on May 28.
"This is an effort to reach at the door steps of the large Indian community staying in various parts of this country," Arun Kumar, Consular General at Chicago, told HindustanTimes.com.
In May, the Chicago Consulate organized two visa camps at Detroit on May 7 and Indianapolis on May 21. Kumar said Detroit has the largest concentration of Indian population outside Chicago in his jurisdiction.
More than 1.6 lakh Indo-Americans live in Chicago and its neighbourhood, while in Detroit there are over 70,000 Indians, he said. Among other major concentration of people of Indian origin include Indianapolis and Minneapolis.
Being held at the popular demand and request of the local Indo-American population and their association, these camps, Kumar said are very successful. Why not, visas to all those having an US passport are issued the same day.
Next round of visa camps, he said, would be held in September and October. This is the time, when a large number of people plan to visit India for the coming months.
Normally, visa camps are being held over the weekend so that a large number of people could benefit from the facilities provided by the Indian Government. In lieu of these special facilities, these Consulates charge a nominal additional fee of $10 (about Rs 450) for issuing visa in a camp.
The four Indian Consulates at New York, Chicago, Houston and San Francisco -- besides the Indian Embassy at Washington D.C. has divided the country into their own area of influence
The Indian Consulate at Chicago has its jurisdiction over nine U.S. States including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Missouri. Other nine States, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas, are under jurisdiction of the Consulate at Houston.
Almost entire of western coast comes under the jurisdiction of Consulate a San Francisco. The States being Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
The New York Consulate has jurisdiction over, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virgin Island. The Indian Embassy at Washington has jurisdiction over Delaware, District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia for such purposes.
While, such camps are increasingly becoming popular and considered to be a good will gesture, a large number of Indo-Americans feel there was need to hold more such visa camps as those planning to visit India during these days have been increasing very fast.
