The Indian government is mulling changes in the process by which a foreigner who gets married to an Indian citizen gets their X2 (dependent) Visa.
Shubhakar Alapati, Director - Global Tree, Immigration Consultants, tells SBS Hindi,
"There was a Filipino spouse of an Indian citizen who had moved to India. She was on a Tourist Visa, so when she wanted to convert her visa into a dependent visa, it took months, and the process was still not complete. So they reached out to the Home Minister of India Rajnath Singh and asked why the process can’t be simplified. In the meantime, the Government has proposed that they will make changes that will simplify this process."
"There are two procedures to apply for a dependent visa, one when the marriage happens in India and the other when the marriage happens abroad. If the marriage is in India it is a slightly easier process which happens quite quickly but if the marriage happened abroad then it is a very complicated process because of which this issue has been raised," says Mr Alapati.
"The process is that if the marriage happens in India, you can file the marriage in court or consular office and apply for the dependent visa. But if the marriage happens abroad, then the couple have to first submit an affidavit in an Indian court and start the process of getting a NOC (No objection certificate). The court releases a newspaper ad, (a process whereby the court wants to know if anyone has an objection to the marriage and if so let the court know within about a month's time). After this, the Court provides a NOC. Once the applicant gets a NOC only then they can apply for the dependent visa."
"After marriage, the spouses come to India on a tourist visa. Unfortunately, India does not have a separate category of visa for a spouse like US or Australia’s dependent visa. This dependent visa in India comes under the X2 visa. X2 is a category which has different visas for those who are in some way connected to the primary applicant, who is an Indian citizen, like parents or siblings or spouse."
Mr Alapati further elaborates on the problem,
"Visitor visa could be for three to six months. Many times the applicants don't get the approval to convert their tourist visa's into X2 visas in time. So they have to go back to their country, wait for their X2 visa and then come back to India."
"Currently, if the couple are married abroad, they have to get all the documents, all the proofs of marriage, submit it to the magistrate in court, get an approval, then there is a 30-60 days process when the court gives them a NOC that they are husband and wife. Only after that, they can start the process of getting an X2 visa. Some couples to avoid this 30-60 days delay, come to India and get married instead, (whereby you can directly apply for the X2 visa after marriage), says Mr Alapati.
Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh recently suggested to a Parliamentary Consultative Committee that this process needs to be simplified. Indian media is also reporting that the Home Ministry plans to change the rules so that irrespective of where the marriage happened, the foreign spouse can directly apply for the X2 visa. However, this facility will still not be available for nationals of Pakistan (or Pakistani origin), Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq and stateless persons.
Mr Alapati also told SBS Hindi that currently there is no option for a ‘partner’ of an Indian citizen to apply for a dependent visa if they are not officially married.
He added that this dependent Visa is only to legally live in India permanently but does not give the visa holder the right to work or do business or anything else, for that there is a different process.
