last year i applied for a visiting visa to the US. i only asked for a 4-week visa to visit my sister. at the time, i was working in england....if the rules were applied very strictly, i would have had to come back to india to apply for a US visa...however, with no property to my name in either INDIA or UK, and no permanent resident status in UK, i still got a 1-year visa to visit my sister in the US.
most visa officials all over the world are strict, because they have to abide by the rules. but the over-riding difference between western and indian officials is that rules are applied humanely by the western officials. i have travelled to germany and france this year. at times the german and american visa officials made jokes about my appearance because my passport is very old now. they could have detained me!!!! but they didnt.
i repeat,all over the world,with no exceptions.people of native origin are treated as first priority,except of course in india, where we are treated as dirt. what are we supposed to do?not go abroad? we buy property and spend most of our savings in india thus fuelling the economy.in 05, NRIs remitted $35 billion to india, a world record.
