BD citizens should get long-term Indian visa

Two former officials at the Indian High Commission (IHC) in Dhaka have given opinion in favour of issuing long-term visa for Bangladeshis.
They gave the opinion in an article, titled "Visas: How They Work - An India-Bangladesh Case Study," published in the May issue of the bi-monthly journal - Strategic Analysis - of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), India.
Sandeep Chakravorty, who moved to Peru recently as ambassador after serving as Indian deputy high commissioner to Bangladesh, and Sumit Chaturvedi, first secretary (consular and visa) till early August,  jointly authored the article.
In the article, the diplomats opined that issuing long-term visas would resolve the problems of forgery and illegal migration through ensuring 'legitimate travel'.
Their paper shows over 0.5 million visas are issued every year by Indian missions in Bangladesh - the highest volume by any Indian diplomatic outposts. Despite the volume, a 'visa crisis' is brewing up here.
"The visa-seekers in Bangladesh often tend to associate the mission/posts with agents, and view scarcity of appointment slots as artificial," the article said.
The two officers also noted that longer-term multiple entry visa, issued to Bangladeshi businessmen, was a big hit, and was helping them bring down pressure on system as well as stop illegal travel.
They also believe that introduction of longer-term visa 'was meant to take care of the failure in demand, in order to de-clog the system from repeat applicants'.
The authors found that from just two to three per cent, the proportion of longer-term visas has increased to 98 per cent.
"This has led to an increase in travel through legitimate routes, which is partially reflected in the way air-traffic has grown," the paper said.
It also pointed out that fraudulent document for visa applications along with violations of visa rules 'add to the levels of discomfort in further introducing liberal measures'.
Furthermore, it has been noticed that if visas are liberalised in one category, then other visa-seekers tend to migrate to that category, the article said.
"For example, the mission made it easy for patients to get medical visas, which in turn propelled applicants to migrate from the tourist category visa to the medical category, using incorrect/false documents," it pointed out.
A key policy recommendation was to have 'proper pricing' for an Indian visa, which is currently completely free for Bangladeshis due to a reciprocal agreement, said the diplomats in their writing.
"A carefully determined price would also have an effect in moderating demand and help in demand management," they said.
Meanwhile, citing data of the Indian Ministry of Tourism, Indian media reported that after the US Bangladesh is the second highest source for foreign tourist arrivals in India.  
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