Just an update on this -- My friend decided to not go to court ... but called everyone he knew ... managed to get mobile numbers of addl. secretaries, a few ministers and such, and was calling them sending sms every-day. In effect they lifted the ban after a month and a half, and his wife was able to fly in (and has flown in and out a couple of times since then). However, they did not give anything in writing, he was told over the phone ... his wife can fly back, they simply cannot give anything in writing.
Apparently unofficially he learnt it was an "error", and even got to know where the complaint against his wife came from. She stayed in a hotel in a small town somewhere - and the local sub-inspector who receives foreigner registrations did not understand what a PIO was or what it implies, simply looked for an employment visa -- didn't find it, and flagged her as a visa violator. Went up the chain got rubber-stamped all the way up-to Minist. of Home Affairs (i am sure no one reads these things, just blindly passes on the file)... eventually resulted in the ban. He has been going through an RTI process to get his wife's file from immigration to know exactly what happened and who was responsible ... and also pursuing it through the government's complaint portal. Now, I am not really sure if that is a good idea ... On 9 February 2016 at 12:54, Nikhil Mehra <nikhil.mehra...@gmail.com> wrote: > > On 08-Feb-2016, at 10:37 PM, harry <listmans...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > On 8 February 2016 at 14:55, Badri Natarajan <li...@badri.net> wrote: > > > >> > >>> On 8 Feb 2016, at 11:46, Nikhil Mehra <nikhil.mehra...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >>> > >>> > >> > >> Absolutely agree with Nikhil. The bureaucracy have no incentive to help > >> your friend. Unless you have Minister level connections to go over their > >> heads, your friends are simply wasting time (and if they waste too much > >> time and go to Court, the Government will try telling the Court that > they > >> waited too long, although I doubt you’re at that point yet). > >> > >> I can understand why this is happening..it’s very seductive to think > that > >> “something will happen” if they keep talking to bureaucrats - it feels > like > >> taking action because so much effort is going into it, and it feels like > >> court will be an unnecessary escalation. But you have two lawyers > telling > >> you now that your friends’ best bet is to file a case. > >> > >> This is one of the circumstances where the Indian legal system actually > >> works (more or less) as it is supposed to (as opposed to, say, trying to > >> recover a commercial debt). > >> > >> > > Thanks, see what you mean by "something will happen" syndrome. > > > > Any idea how long such cases take from filing to judgement ?... i always > > hear about cases taking years if not months to come up for a hearing. > > > > Oddly the problem seems to have arisen from a hotel in a small town. This > > lady was staying in the hotel for a few days, had to submit copies of ID > > documents at the desk, and gave the PIO and PAN documents (which the > hotel > > apparently has to send to local police chowki ? ) The police didn't > > understand this PIO document and came to the hotel couple of days later > to > > "inquire" about her ... found she was a foreigner... and asked for more > > details about her, who she was etc took copy of passport. Thats the only > > brush with police she has had. And this "visa violation" warning that I > > found via immigration source has come from the same regional immigration > > circle office where this town is located. Clearly ignorance of local > police > > authorities is something to be wary of ? > > > > > > > Harry, given how egregious this case appears to be, i.e., (i) no reason > for the activities of the deportee to be flagged under any existing law > (ii) refoulement obligations on account of her family in India (iii) past > record of living in, and traveling to and from, India, I think this could > be the sort of case where relief may be forthcoming in a matter of weeks. > The whole thing could be over in a few months - win or lose. > > Egards, > > Nikhil Mehra > Advocate > B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) (NLSIU), LL.M (Northwestern) > > Chambers of Nikhil Mehra > E-348 Ground Floor | Greater Kailash - II | New Delhi 110048 > +91 98107 76904 > nikhil.mehra...@gmail.com > > > > >> On the OCI/PIO thing that’s quite interesting because my wife is > actually > >> a PIO holder who is not of Indian origin, in a similar position to your > >> friends. The OCI/PIO merger is a mess - from what we can tell (lots of > >> contradictory information), they HAVE merged OCI and PIO statuses > together, > >> so that all PIO cards are now treated as OCI cards and PIO basically > >> doesn’t exist anymore. But there’s also a lot of contradictory > information > >> saying that it is preferable to get an “official” conversion to OCI > just in > >> case..it’s on our list of things for my wife to do. It can’t hurt, is my > >> view. > >> > >> And yes Harry - OCI, despite the name, is roughly the Indian equivalent > of > >> having a US green card and grants (broadly similar) rights and > >> restrictions. It is NOT citizenship or nationality and does not entitle > the > >> holder to a passport. > >> > >> > >
