India rejects visa application of Chinese citizen living in Australia as a permanent resident

Chinese national Lan Shao applied for a visa to travel to India with her family, only to receive two consecutive rejections on her successive visa applications earlier this year. She has now appealed to the Indian prime minister seeking to repeal the decision.

Lan Shao with her husband Simar Singh. Credit: Supplied

Key Points

• Lan Shao is a Chinese national who has lived in Australia for the past 18 years.
• Ms Shao's visa application to travel to India has been rejected twice.
• The Singh family has appealed to the Indian prime minister to repeal the decision.

Ms Shao is an Australian permanent resident who has called Melbourne home for the past 18 years. She married Simar Singh, a man of Indian origin, and accompanied him to meet his extended family in India in 2019.

The 40-year-old, an emergency nurse at a private hospital in Melbourne, was planning to travel to India again, this time with the couple's one-year-old daughter and in-laws, to attend two family weddings in March.

But Ms Shao's travel plans were stifled as her visa application was rejected by the Indian Bureau of Immigration, not once but twice earlier this year.

Lan Shao is a Chinese passport holder who has been living in Australia for the past 18 years. Credit: Supplied

Ms Shao's mother-in-law, Amarjit Kaur, who has lodged several appeals to the prime minister's office in India and other relevant ministries for her daughter-in-law's visa, told SBS Punjabi that the rejections had left their family disappointed and dejected.

"We had plans to attend two intimate weddings in India and to introduce our granddaughter to our extended family back home. We also wanted her to visit the Golden Temple (the holiest of Sikh shrines) in Amritsar during our trip, but now none of this can happen.

"Strangely, they have issued a visa to my 18-month-old granddaughter. How is it possible for a baby to travel without her mum? It is heartbreaking," she said.

Lan Shao (R) with her husband and in-laws. Credit: Supplied

After the first rejection, the Singh family contacted the Indian Ministry of External Affairs to repeal the decision on Ms Shao's visa.

In their response, the ministry wrote that "the issuance of foreign visa is the sovereign right of the respective country. MEA has no role. Therefore, the applicant is requested to approach the concerned office directly for issuance of visa."

A snapshot of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs' response to the Singh family's appeal.

After receiving this response, the Singh family wrote to the Indian High Commission in Canberra and met the Consul General of India in Melbourne in person to discuss the issue.

"We met Dr Sushil Kumar in person on 7 February. He even made a recommendation to the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs for Lan Shao's visa, but to our shock, that too was rejected," she said.

SBS Punjabi has contacted the Indian High Commission in Canberra for comment.

Ms Kaur said they have not received a rejection notice for any of the two visa applications.

"The ministry has not responded to the applications in writing. So, both times, we learnt about the rejection when we called the visa office for a follow-up," she said.

Can Chinese nationals apply for an Indian e-visa?

At the moment, there are certain restrictions to getting a visa for visiting India as a citizen from China.

According to the official website of the Consulate General of India in Beijing, travel to India on E-visas stands temporarily suspended for all Chinese passport holders with immediate effect "due to certain current developments."

This applies to holders of Chinese passports and applicants of other nationalities residing in the People's Republic of China. Holders of already issued E-visas may note that these are no longer valid," the website states.

A man holding a Chinese passport (representational image). Credit: weibo

The website further states that in case of compelling reasons to travel to India, such persons may contact the embassy in Beijing or consulates in Shanghai and Guangzhou for a new visa or contact the Indian visa application centres in these cities.

Chinese nationals can also apply for business or medical visas to travel to India.

India-China's troubled visa history

In April last year, the Indian government decided to suspend tourist visas issued to Chinese nationals, as per a circular issued by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), a global airlines body with around 290 members.

"Tourist visas issued to nationals of China (People's Republic) are no longer valid, the IATA said in a circular issued on 20 April.

The IATA also said that tourist visas with a validity of 10 years are no longer valid.

According to the Indian media reports, the move appeared to be a response to Beijing's reported inaction on India's requests about allowing approximately 22,000 Indian students enrolled in Chinese universities to return to the country for on-campus studies.

These students had travelled to India when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted their lives in early 2020. The students were, however, allowed to return to China in late 2022.

An advisory by the Indian Embassy in Beijing on 16 December 2022 indicates that visa processing has resumed for other visa categories, but e-visas are still unavailable to Chinese nationals.

The Singh family, meanwhile, has made a third visa application for Ms Shao, which is currently under processing.

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