The story continues…
2016 April 1: I submitted to the VFS representative two documents showing that the 2008 policy was still in effect, through screenshots of scouring Government of India (GOI) websites, such as one Ministry of Home Affairs Overview for Granting Research and Student Visas up to date 2014 September 10 and a 2015 JNU Academic Rules and Regulations document directly citing this policy regarding foreign research scholars seeking affiliation or presenting at a conference in JNU.
2016 April 22: I heard back from VFS for the third time, again stating that I need to get a document showing GOI approval. This led to the dreaded hell of the customer service loop. After calling numerous times, I could not get through to the High Commission, but with VFS managed to get through to someone. Every time someone answered, they would recite information on the website, assure me that they were doing their best, that I would be receiving a call from someone soon and that they’ve put my inquiry on ‘emergency priority’. Each time, I aggressively but politely said, “I am not saying you’re not doing your job but I have to know by the end of today what this document you are requesting is and how to get it” – after which they would refer me to their manager who would say, we’ve put your inquiry on high priority, you should be hearing back from our call centre by today or next Monday. I said “I need to know by the end of today” and they said “yes, yes ok, we will call you by the end of today”, but of course I never got a call back from them. Perhaps this maddening bureaucracy is unique to India, but I suspect it’s universal.
It was at this point that I began to suspect that it was the affiliation letters themselves that were holding my application up: both the letter of admission and certificate of affiliation state as one of the conditions for my affiliation with JNU was ‘subject to the approval of the above-mentioned research project by the Government of India.’ I suspected that this was why the High Commission expected me to get these documents myself and this was why I kept being told to ‘just ask JNU’. I emailed JNU’s Admissions Office on April 22, cc’ing my JNU mentor and Exeter supervisor to ask for details: Do I need to get GOI approval myself in order to be affiliated with JNU and get my research visa? If so, how do I get this? Is it a separate form that I need to submit myself to the GOI’s Ministry of Human Resources Development Department of Education?
My mentor then began to suspect that this was part of the new BJP government’s war on higher education due to the February 9 Kanhaiya Kumar protest and arrest. I felt unsure about this, and there was also little I could do as a foreign researcher at the mercy of the Indian government’s approval; moreover, my general sense of the HIV/AIDS in India was that it wasn’t a particularly sensitive issue for the Indian government because it was a relatively successful response. I could perhaps see why the High Commission wouldn’t approve my research visa no matter how many PDFs proving the validity of the 2008 policy I showed them since it stated in the very documents I was submitting showing JNU affiliation that I need to get GOI approval. But at this stage, I did very strongly consider switching to a tourist visa, or worse, changing my project to focus only on global AIDS. I had one last shot.
2016 May 18: Coupled with an archival research trip to LSHTM and Wellcome Trust, I visited the High Commission’s Office in London. After scouring their website, I found it had general open hours on Wednesdays from 11 – 12 am -- https://www.hcilondon.in/pages.php?id=179. After explaining my situation to security at the entrance (I could tell foreigners seeking Indian research visas were very uncommon!), I subsequently managed to squeeze into a meeting with an official representative, who assured me that I do not need a document showing Government of India approval – a cooling wave of relief swept over me!! The official seemed genuinely confused as to why my application hadn’t been processed yet, which really encouraged me. It also made me think it wasn’t about a policy change or anything to do with GOI disliking JNU because of the student protests, as my mentor suspected. The problem stemmed from VFS being unwilling to take responsibility to move my request forward, nor give me a clear ‘no you don’t get a research visa, and this is why’, thus keeping me in a grey limbo of ‘maybe this, maybe that’ for three months.
The India House official kindly gave me very specific instructions as to what kind of alternative document I could request from JNU Admissions (official letter with signature saying that GOI approval wasn’t necessary) and who I should email it to with what subject heading and what wording, etc. I emailed JNU Admissions requesting this letter later that day. Two days later on Friday, I heard back from JNU’s Section Officer who didn’t attach a letter but wrote a terse message basically saying that they’ve provided all the documentation necessary for a research visa. Ahh, there was always going to be tension in direct communications between JNU (academic culture leans left and quite critical of GOI) and any official arm of the Indian government. But I was not in a state of allowing such things stop me. I forwarded this to the High Commission on Saturday 21 May and said that if this wasn’t good enough, could they please liaise with JNU Admissions directly. Also, I stated (with a slight tinge of impatience and threat) that I had been living four months without my Japanese passport, which included my Tier 2 UK student visa. In general, foreigners should have passport documentation with them whenever they do significant travel and I hinted that keeping those documents for four months would involve other bureaucratic troubles.
I received a reply from the High Commission on 26 May, saying that I had provided the information they requested from me on my end, they were processing my case and were confident they could get back to me with their decision by the next day. I got a call from them on 2 June 2016 to say that my application was approved and I collected my Japanese passport with Indian research visa in London on 3 June 2016. I was now ready to set off to New Delhi.
3 Tips:
· Use whatever resources – word of mouth, comments and replies on forums, YouTube videos – you have on hand, and reach out. The internet is a very useful tool to give you a sense of how persistent you need to be.[1] I have also since helped several people asking for guidance on the Indian research visa process.
· Be persistent and know the rules back to front by scouring official information available online. Do not show your frustration, develop a strong, assertive yet calm and measured tone of voice. Most importantly, do not feel guilty that as a foreigner, you have no right to be interested in India and obtain a research visa to do your work.
· Be brave. Figure out quickly who can make things happen, look them in the eye and say with honesty why you are asking for this. I believe what worked for me at the end of the day was a conversation with the High Commission officer. He could tell what this project meant to me, how I saw contemporary India as an American English-speaking Japanese studying in the UK, and that I was not going to give up because there was no observable reason why as a researcher I should not bring to light India’s achievements in HIV/AIDS.
[1] See the many comments kindly contributed by other researchers. Discussion by Reiko Kanazawa, ‘Research Visa to India’, (29 April 2015) H-Net. <https://networks.h-net.org/node/22055/discussions/68704/research-visa-india#replies>.
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