I'm happy to announce that I successfully defended my dissertation, "The Spatialization of Knowledge and Power at the Astronomical Observatories of Sawai Jai Singh II, c. 1721-1743 CE," this semester and am moving onto new and hopefully better things. I have a stack of research notes and tips that I never got around to adding to this blog. I'm going to take a few weeks off to work on a non-academic project, after which I'll come back and do some work on this place.
Do you ever wonder if you're the only one who doesn't know how to find/access the Jesuit archives in Vanves? Good news: you're not alone. I get the most hits from searches related to those archives. In second place are searches for information about research visas and visa renewals. In third place are searches related to Persian manuscripts. The only people who ever e-mail directly with questions are people with questions about visas. I guess that tells us something about the frustration and anxiety surrounding research visas for India.
I'll be back at the end of May 2011.
Showing posts with label Visa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Visa. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Friday, September 3, 2010
Visa Renewal, Jaipur Style
My friend and colleague, Julia, who is currently completing her dissertation research in Jaipur, has generously written up her visa renewal experience. She describes a process significantly different than what I went through in Delhi, but it backs up my earlier assertion: nothing would ever get done without the help of AIIS in general, and Kumarji in specific.
Julia's Advice:
My main advice for getting the visa renewed at your local FRO is to have all of the Indian administrators in your life on speed dial on your mobile phone, ready to talk with any bureaucrats you encounter. If we hadn't had the local AIIS office helping us, we would have been completely lost, and would have wasted an enormous amount of time to frittering, waiting in offices, and running back and forth gathering bits of paperwork. Having AIIS's assistance also helped avoid the awkward question of whether, and to whom, to offer some "additional under the table fees." I don't know if AIIS just has the system figured out, or if they're greasing the wheels somewhere, but those issues never came up.
First, about two months before our visas expired, we went to visit Kumar, the office administrator at the AIIS's offices in Jaipur, affiliated with their language program. Because AIIS deals with an enormous amount of volume in bureaucractic visa work in Jaipur, Kumar knows the ropes--he knows the peons who can get you the right guy to talk to and the FRO office people have his number. He told us that it was too early to apply, and that they wouldn't take our forms yet, saving us a trip to the FRO. Several weeks later, we arrived at the FRO in Jaipur, where they told us they couldn't renew my research visa. I told them they could, they told me they couldn't, and that I needed to go to Delhi. It was pretty clear that the main issue was a lack of experience with research visas, so I called the person in charge of junior scholars at the Fulbright offices in Delhi and handed the phone to the FRO guys. She convinced them that what we wanted was possible. Then I talked a bit about how I knew Kumar, and we had tea with the FRO guys, and after some last minute photocopying of forms we needed, they took our paperwork--and, disconcertingly, our passports. They were dreadfully vague about when we would see our passports again--"you know," they said, "the Indian government is so slow." I got the mobile number for one of the FRO guys and we went on our way.
At this point, our paperwork was sent to the Secretariat, the state government offices, for approval. Several days after dropping the forms (on Kumar's instructions), I called the guy at the FRO to confirm that the forms had been sent and to get our paperwork's "dispatch" number, so that we could find the forms at the Secretariat. About two weeks later, we went--WITH KUMAR--to the Secretariat, where he talked to the right guys to actually get our forms out of the paperwork piles and moving along; without this, he said, our paperwork never would have moved. Do NOT go to the Secretariat for the first time by yourself; it is really huge and overwhelming. Without Kumar we literally would not have been able to figure out how to get in the door. They told us to return a few days later for our completed forms and passports. We did. We actually SAW our passports move from desk to desk, getting signed and written on, but after a several hour wait, it turned out that "Sahib," whose signature was necessary, wasn't in, and we had to return the following day when, at last, we received our passports and other paperwork in a sealed brown envelope, which Kumar had instructed us not to open.
At this point, we brought the envelope across the city, back to the FRO, where they opened it, stamped up our visas and our "residence permits" and signed everything twice.
From dropping off our forms and passports to having our passports, with visas, in hand, took about 3 weeks, total. This included both an extension of my research visa and of my partner's dependent spousal entry visa. It's a little terrifying being without your passport for that amount of time; make color copies if you haven't already, and don't plan any travel for that period.
Julia's Advice:
My main advice for getting the visa renewed at your local FRO is to have all of the Indian administrators in your life on speed dial on your mobile phone, ready to talk with any bureaucrats you encounter. If we hadn't had the local AIIS office helping us, we would have been completely lost, and would have wasted an enormous amount of time to frittering, waiting in offices, and running back and forth gathering bits of paperwork. Having AIIS's assistance also helped avoid the awkward question of whether, and to whom, to offer some "additional under the table fees." I don't know if AIIS just has the system figured out, or if they're greasing the wheels somewhere, but those issues never came up.
First, about two months before our visas expired, we went to visit Kumar, the office administrator at the AIIS's offices in Jaipur, affiliated with their language program. Because AIIS deals with an enormous amount of volume in bureaucractic visa work in Jaipur, Kumar knows the ropes--he knows the peons who can get you the right guy to talk to and the FRO office people have his number. He told us that it was too early to apply, and that they wouldn't take our forms yet, saving us a trip to the FRO. Several weeks later, we arrived at the FRO in Jaipur, where they told us they couldn't renew my research visa. I told them they could, they told me they couldn't, and that I needed to go to Delhi. It was pretty clear that the main issue was a lack of experience with research visas, so I called the person in charge of junior scholars at the Fulbright offices in Delhi and handed the phone to the FRO guys. She convinced them that what we wanted was possible. Then I talked a bit about how I knew Kumar, and we had tea with the FRO guys, and after some last minute photocopying of forms we needed, they took our paperwork--and, disconcertingly, our passports. They were dreadfully vague about when we would see our passports again--"you know," they said, "the Indian government is so slow." I got the mobile number for one of the FRO guys and we went on our way.
At this point, our paperwork was sent to the Secretariat, the state government offices, for approval. Several days after dropping the forms (on Kumar's instructions), I called the guy at the FRO to confirm that the forms had been sent and to get our paperwork's "dispatch" number, so that we could find the forms at the Secretariat. About two weeks later, we went--WITH KUMAR--to the Secretariat, where he talked to the right guys to actually get our forms out of the paperwork piles and moving along; without this, he said, our paperwork never would have moved. Do NOT go to the Secretariat for the first time by yourself; it is really huge and overwhelming. Without Kumar we literally would not have been able to figure out how to get in the door. They told us to return a few days later for our completed forms and passports. We did. We actually SAW our passports move from desk to desk, getting signed and written on, but after a several hour wait, it turned out that "Sahib," whose signature was necessary, wasn't in, and we had to return the following day when, at last, we received our passports and other paperwork in a sealed brown envelope, which Kumar had instructed us not to open.
At this point, we brought the envelope across the city, back to the FRO, where they opened it, stamped up our visas and our "residence permits" and signed everything twice.
From dropping off our forms and passports to having our passports, with visas, in hand, took about 3 weeks, total. This included both an extension of my research visa and of my partner's dependent spousal entry visa. It's a little terrifying being without your passport for that amount of time; make color copies if you haven't already, and don't plan any travel for that period.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Renewing your Research Visa.
Good luck with that.
No, seriously, it can be done, but it is going to take more patience than you probably have after 12 months in India.
First, the good news for all you Fulbright people: the USIEF office will write you a letter that should help smooth things over with FRRO. Yes, FRRO. I'm afraid you have to go back there. You should take with you:
Okay, now the bad news for all you independent researchers, or people on something like a SSRC-IDRF. It's going to take you an extra day or two to renew your visa. Plan for a total of three days: 1 day to get letters from the U.S. Embassy and your advisor on campus; 1 day to visit the Ministry of Home Affairs; and 1 day for the FRRO.
This is what you need to do. Get a letter from the U.S. Embassy reconfirming your status as a researcher. Get a letter from your Indian university advisor recommending your visa renewal and noting your good research progress. Photocopy them. Then get up early and go to the Ministry of Home Affairs (Jaipur House on Mansingh Road, New Delhi) and take the following items:
Compile all the copies together, these are what you will attach to the forms given to at MHA. You also need the originals, though, because the interview (see below) will ask to see them. If you forget to make a photocopy, don't worry, there is a copy station at the bottom of the stairs, only 1 INR/page.
When you get out of the autorickshaw at Jaipur House, the reception desk is in the little building to your right. Go in there and show your passport. This room has AC, but don't think you have it made, because this is only the reception hall. They will give you a number and tell you to go to the visa room. Go out of reception and into the complex to the office building to the left (ask the guards where to go). Wander into the building, look for stairs. The visa room is on the first (upper) floor. The copy station is right at the bottom of these stairs.
Generally, this part is hot and chaotic, even though the visa people follow a clear procedure. You will be given some paperwork with a number. Fill it out, and bring it back to the same desk. Eventually, some officers will come out and sit at the long desk at the side of the room, and start calling out numbers. You'd think people would wait until they heard their number, but no, the moment one number is called, there is a stampede. For this reason, I recommend sitting in a chair in the side room so you will already be there when the stampede happens. You might be tempted to sit in the larger visa room, where there is a hint of AC, but I think you will regret it when the chaos starts.
What happens is this: your number is called, and you go sit at the long desk for an interview. I never said a word during my interview, so I'm not sure why they call it that. An officer looks over all your photocopies, asks to see the originals, writes some mysterious notes, then tells you to come back at 4:30. Here is the frustrating part. You will come back at 4:30 as directed, and be handed a sealed envelope. This envelope you take to FRRO the next morning, along with all the documents/money listed above. DON'T OPEN THE ENVELOPE. I know, it's hard, because in that sealed envelope it either says "give this person a visa extension" or it says "deny this person's visa extension," and it would be lovely to know which it is before you stand in line at FRRO. But if the seal is broken, you will be denied your visa extension for certain.
In my case, I was recommended for a visa extension, and the less than two hours I then spent at the FRRO a miracle. I hope this description of the process bears equally good results for you.
No, seriously, it can be done, but it is going to take more patience than you probably have after 12 months in India.
First, the good news for all you Fulbright people: the USIEF office will write you a letter that should help smooth things over with FRRO. Yes, FRRO. I'm afraid you have to go back there. You should take with you:
- your own pen with black or blue ink
- passport photos (take 4, just in case, but refer to my previous FRRO post for instructions on how to find a photo place near FFRO itself)
- passport w/visa
- photocopies of your passport and visa
- FRRO registration book
- photocopies of the first and last page of your FRRO registration book
- Original letter from USIEF, recommending visa renewal
- Photocopy of letter from USIEF
- Letter from Indian university (JNU, DU, etc.) advisor recommending that your visa be renewed (THIS IS ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL)
- Proof of residence (utility bill, C-Form, etc.)
- Flight arrival information (I know, who cares, you've been in India 12 months, but they still want it)
- 4000 INR
Okay, now the bad news for all you independent researchers, or people on something like a SSRC-IDRF. It's going to take you an extra day or two to renew your visa. Plan for a total of three days: 1 day to get letters from the U.S. Embassy and your advisor on campus; 1 day to visit the Ministry of Home Affairs; and 1 day for the FRRO.
This is what you need to do. Get a letter from the U.S. Embassy reconfirming your status as a researcher. Get a letter from your Indian university advisor recommending your visa renewal and noting your good research progress. Photocopy them. Then get up early and go to the Ministry of Home Affairs (Jaipur House on Mansingh Road, New Delhi) and take the following items:
- your own pen with black or blue ink
- passport photos (I honestly can't remember if I needed them, but it can't hurt to have them)
- Original letter from U.S. Embassy
- Photostat of letter from U.S. Embassy
- Original letter from university advisor
- Photostat of letter from university advisor
- Original letter from home (U.S.) institution praising your work
- Photostat of letter from home institution
- Passport with visa page
- Photostat of passport with visa page
- FRRO registration book
- Photostat of FRRO registration book
- Proof of residence (utility bill, C-Form, etc.)
Compile all the copies together, these are what you will attach to the forms given to at MHA. You also need the originals, though, because the interview (see below) will ask to see them. If you forget to make a photocopy, don't worry, there is a copy station at the bottom of the stairs, only 1 INR/page.
When you get out of the autorickshaw at Jaipur House, the reception desk is in the little building to your right. Go in there and show your passport. This room has AC, but don't think you have it made, because this is only the reception hall. They will give you a number and tell you to go to the visa room. Go out of reception and into the complex to the office building to the left (ask the guards where to go). Wander into the building, look for stairs. The visa room is on the first (upper) floor. The copy station is right at the bottom of these stairs.
Generally, this part is hot and chaotic, even though the visa people follow a clear procedure. You will be given some paperwork with a number. Fill it out, and bring it back to the same desk. Eventually, some officers will come out and sit at the long desk at the side of the room, and start calling out numbers. You'd think people would wait until they heard their number, but no, the moment one number is called, there is a stampede. For this reason, I recommend sitting in a chair in the side room so you will already be there when the stampede happens. You might be tempted to sit in the larger visa room, where there is a hint of AC, but I think you will regret it when the chaos starts.
What happens is this: your number is called, and you go sit at the long desk for an interview. I never said a word during my interview, so I'm not sure why they call it that. An officer looks over all your photocopies, asks to see the originals, writes some mysterious notes, then tells you to come back at 4:30. Here is the frustrating part. You will come back at 4:30 as directed, and be handed a sealed envelope. This envelope you take to FRRO the next morning, along with all the documents/money listed above. DON'T OPEN THE ENVELOPE. I know, it's hard, because in that sealed envelope it either says "give this person a visa extension" or it says "deny this person's visa extension," and it would be lovely to know which it is before you stand in line at FRRO. But if the seal is broken, you will be denied your visa extension for certain.
In my case, I was recommended for a visa extension, and the less than two hours I then spent at the FRRO a miracle. I hope this description of the process bears equally good results for you.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Getting to India
If have plans to do Ph.D. research in India, chances are you already know how to get there. Maybe you're being funded with a Fulbright-Hays DDRA--in that case, USEFI will probably be taking care of a lot of your details. Or perhaps you have an AIIS Junior Fellowship--in that case, you can rest assured that the people in charge of administration definitely know how to get you in and out of the country. However, I've met a few grad students who decided to do research in India at the last minute, so here's some hopefully helpful advice.
FIRST VISIT
I wouldn't recommend planning a lengthy research trip to India if you've never been there before, and in fact, Overseas Research: A Practical Guide recommends you take at least one reconnaissance trip to your area of research before committing to a long-term visit. An "easy" way to test out India is to participate in a language program. I myself did two Hindi language programs through AIIS in preparation for my doctoral research.* Of course, this meant I had to plan ahead, and spend two of my summers away from home. I recommend others take this route, though. If you study in India for a couple of summers, you will having something to put in the "previous preparation" section of fellowship applications, but more importantly, your stress levels will drop dramatically when you start thinking about long term research abroad. You'll have a better idea what you're getting into if you visit for awhile first. Even if you have to spend your own funds to take a quick, three-week vacation in Delhi or Mumbai, I'd recommend you do it, just to get your feet wet.
TOURIST VISA
Obviously, the best way to arrange for research in India is to land a Fulbright-Hays DDRA, Social Sciences Research Council-IDRF, or AIIS Junior Fellowship. Still, you should be able to manage a trip if you have department or university funding. India now outsources its visa processing to Travisa, and you should check those very helpful pages rather than believe what I say, but here's my bit of advice. If you're going to be staying only a few months in India, you can probably get by on a tourist visa. As the India Department of Education says, you can still conduct research while on a tourist visa. Tourist visas are typically only good for six months, so your trip would be limited in duration. If it's your first trip to India, that might be a good thing. To be quite honest, I wanted to come home at the 6.5 week mark on my first trip, and at the 8.5 week mark on my second. So, you might want to plan just a 1-2 month trip the first time, anyway.
RESEARCH VISA
If you want to stay longer than six months, the first thing you should do is check to see if your university is affiliated with AIIS. If your university is a member institution, AIIS can help you obtain a research visa! A lot of people don't seem to know this, or think they shouldn't bother the people at AIIS, but that's why your university joined this organization, to help out students like you. You should keep in mind that obtaining a research visa can take up to six months, so contact them in plenty of time. AIIS can help you arrange for a certificate of affiliation, a necessary piece of paper to get a research visa. My certificate of affiliation with Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi was arranged by USEFI, but I did a lot of emailing beforehand, making sure I had already introduced my research project to faculty in appropriate university departments. I think this is a crucial step: go ahead and e-mail these complete strangers and talk to them about your work. Really, you should do this. It can be a lot of work (I sent more emails that bounced back undelivered than I could even count), but it's good to have potential faculty contacts, and more importantly, some really interesting and helpful people.
$$$$
No matter what, the process is expensive (I paid a total of $397 in fees for photos/passport renewal/research visa processing). Since everything takes so long, you're going to want to budget for overnight mailing. You're going to do a lot of photocopying (the research visa requires seven copies of the "proforma," a data sheet stating who you are and what type of research you want to do).
IRB CLEARANCE
One thing I didn't know about until pretty late in the game is obtaining IRB clearance. As a historian, you probably won't be working with human subjects. Still, my fellowship required IRB clearance, so I had to apply for an exemption. I didn't even understand the questions on the form, actually--I presume they are clearer to people who regularly conduct ethnographic or sociological research, but I had to have several conversations with the IRB representative on campus before I had the form filled out properly. So, this might be something to get to work on right away.
======================
*There are many other options for language programs, of course. If you are interested in Bangla, you can go through AIIS, but you can also apply to go to Dhaka through the American Institute of Bangladesh Studies. UC-Santa Barbara runs a Panjabi studies program in the summer. You can seem some other choices at the University of Chicago Summer Language Resource Center.
FIRST VISIT
I wouldn't recommend planning a lengthy research trip to India if you've never been there before, and in fact, Overseas Research: A Practical Guide recommends you take at least one reconnaissance trip to your area of research before committing to a long-term visit. An "easy" way to test out India is to participate in a language program. I myself did two Hindi language programs through AIIS in preparation for my doctoral research.* Of course, this meant I had to plan ahead, and spend two of my summers away from home. I recommend others take this route, though. If you study in India for a couple of summers, you will having something to put in the "previous preparation" section of fellowship applications, but more importantly, your stress levels will drop dramatically when you start thinking about long term research abroad. You'll have a better idea what you're getting into if you visit for awhile first. Even if you have to spend your own funds to take a quick, three-week vacation in Delhi or Mumbai, I'd recommend you do it, just to get your feet wet.
TOURIST VISA
Obviously, the best way to arrange for research in India is to land a Fulbright-Hays DDRA, Social Sciences Research Council-IDRF, or AIIS Junior Fellowship. Still, you should be able to manage a trip if you have department or university funding. India now outsources its visa processing to Travisa, and you should check those very helpful pages rather than believe what I say, but here's my bit of advice. If you're going to be staying only a few months in India, you can probably get by on a tourist visa. As the India Department of Education says, you can still conduct research while on a tourist visa. Tourist visas are typically only good for six months, so your trip would be limited in duration. If it's your first trip to India, that might be a good thing. To be quite honest, I wanted to come home at the 6.5 week mark on my first trip, and at the 8.5 week mark on my second. So, you might want to plan just a 1-2 month trip the first time, anyway.
RESEARCH VISA
If you want to stay longer than six months, the first thing you should do is check to see if your university is affiliated with AIIS. If your university is a member institution, AIIS can help you obtain a research visa! A lot of people don't seem to know this, or think they shouldn't bother the people at AIIS, but that's why your university joined this organization, to help out students like you. You should keep in mind that obtaining a research visa can take up to six months, so contact them in plenty of time. AIIS can help you arrange for a certificate of affiliation, a necessary piece of paper to get a research visa. My certificate of affiliation with Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi was arranged by USEFI, but I did a lot of emailing beforehand, making sure I had already introduced my research project to faculty in appropriate university departments. I think this is a crucial step: go ahead and e-mail these complete strangers and talk to them about your work. Really, you should do this. It can be a lot of work (I sent more emails that bounced back undelivered than I could even count), but it's good to have potential faculty contacts, and more importantly, some really interesting and helpful people.
$$$$
No matter what, the process is expensive (I paid a total of $397 in fees for photos/passport renewal/research visa processing). Since everything takes so long, you're going to want to budget for overnight mailing. You're going to do a lot of photocopying (the research visa requires seven copies of the "proforma," a data sheet stating who you are and what type of research you want to do).
IRB CLEARANCE
One thing I didn't know about until pretty late in the game is obtaining IRB clearance. As a historian, you probably won't be working with human subjects. Still, my fellowship required IRB clearance, so I had to apply for an exemption. I didn't even understand the questions on the form, actually--I presume they are clearer to people who regularly conduct ethnographic or sociological research, but I had to have several conversations with the IRB representative on campus before I had the form filled out properly. So, this might be something to get to work on right away.
======================
*There are many other options for language programs, of course. If you are interested in Bangla, you can go through AIIS, but you can also apply to go to Dhaka through the American Institute of Bangladesh Studies. UC-Santa Barbara runs a Panjabi studies program in the summer. You can seem some other choices at the University of Chicago Summer Language Resource Center.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
