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Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

Indians are anxious to apply for a foreign visa. Some of it is our fault

Consulates and embassies are more sceptical of Indian applicants than they used to be. Too many Indians apply for tourist visas while their true intention is to emigrate.

It’s not a good time to be an Indian travelling abroad. I don’t need to repeat the stories about how badly many Indian tourists behave in foreign countries: we have seen enough evidence of that in the photos, videos and anecdotes that have been published or posted online. But one consequence of the behaviour of a loud minority is that the rest of us now face more suspicion and disdain than we ever have before.

You can sense the changing mood if you talk to people planning trips abroad. Nearly everyone approaches the visa application process with dread and trepidation. At foreign airports, most (nearly all, perhaps) Indians feel at least a tinge of awkwardness if not outright fear before they go to the immigration desk to get their passports stamped on arrival. Even if they have valid visas, there is always an anxiety that the encounter with the immigration officer could be unpleasant.

It was not supposed to be like this. We were misled into believing that India had risen so much in global esteem that its citizens would be warmly welcomed at every foreign airport. Even if the immigration officer did not stand up to greet us and announce how much he admired our leader—as some had predicted—any suspicion that we were potential illegal immigrants trying to sneak into a Western country was supposed to vanish because of our rising status. Foreign officials, we were told, would be forced to respect India and its enhanced standing on the global stage.

It hasn’t quite worked out like that. India’s rank in the Henley Passport Index usually hovers between 75 and 80, on par with Gabon, Mauritania, and behind Rwanda or Tanzania. Indians can enter many countries without a visa, but the list largely includes nations such as Nepal, Bhutan, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Senegal and Angola. The Western countries that Indian tourists want to visit are not on it. Worse still, some countries are now........

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