The Give-And-Take Of Visas

How can the Indian passport get easier access to more visas? 

It would not be a stretch to say that the first year of the Modi Government has been all about maximising diplomatic ties with countries of all shapes and sizes. From a much-needed visit to Nepal to strengthening ties with the US and Japan, Prime Minister Modi has personally made it a mission to engage with world leaders.

Indeed, if one peruses the PM’s twitter handle, one sees that he makes it a point to wish almost every country on their national day or equivalent, no matter how seemingly insignificant it might appear from a diplomatic perspective. Though many important bilateral treaties have been signed, in almost all cases, there hasn’t been a word about inter-country mobility, i.e. visas. Indeed, if there has been any announcement it has been rather unilateral from India’s side – Canadian, Australian, and even Chinese nationals were granted the e-Visa facility, but there was no reciprocity that was garnered from any of these countries.

One might argue that such unilateralism is required to bring in as much tourist money into the economy. While this is probably the reason behind the introduction of the e-Visa, this author for one, can’t help but believe that the lack of a concerted attempt of reciprocity is shortchanging the average Indian citizen for no fault of theirs. As someone who travels quite a bit to both ostensibly first-world and third-world countries, I can’t help but cringe at the relative hardship that one has to undergo whilst traveling on an Indian passport.

Indeed, anecdotal evidence suggests that one of the main reasons for Indians in first-world nations giving up their citizenship is to acquire a relatively better passport that allows greater mobility, though arguably this is probably only the cherry on top of a cake which promises social security, universal health-care, and an undeniable better standard of living.

Causes of the problem

As this report by Henley and Partners would indicate, as of 2014, Indian citizens can visit 52 countries without a visa or by obtaining one on arrival. This would rank an Indian passport 76th in the world, way behind a British or German passport, but also curiously behind countries like Brazil (21), Venezuela (25), South Africa (41), Sierra Leone (65), and Cuba (69). Economically and diplomatically, India enjoys better clout among the world’s nations than most of the above-mentioned nations, but this is clearly not reflected in the Passport index.

There is a catch to this statistic though. With just a valid US visa and a visa for a Schengen country, the number goes up by around 40 countries, bringing the passport rank within the top 50. 28 out of these 40 countries are signatories of the Schengen agreement, which means that possessing the Visa for one Schengen European country is good enough for all the other European countries in the Schengen zone. The other 12 odd countries, interestingly are willing to ‘trust’ the Indian visitor, if he/she possesses a Visa from a first-world nation. On analysing this seemingly strange condition, one would conclude that it is not too facile as they are simply trying to make the life of the genuine visitor as easy as possible. This is keeping in line with what most countries expect of visitors to their countries, i.e. the four fundamental requirements:

1. They have a very clear short-term motivation to visit the country.
2. They are not associated with criminal elements.
3. They have the means to support themselves while in the country and do not have to resort to either state handouts or working without a proper permit.
4. They will leave the country at the end of their prescribed activity.

Restrictive Visa policies are introduced for certain nationalities when most visitors from a certain country are statistically likely to violate one or all of these criteria. This is even more accentuated when juxtaposed with the sheer population of India. Being ‘vetted’ by the US or a Schengen country is thus good enough for some third countries to believe that the person can indeed fulfill the above criteria. Anecdotal and statistical evidence suggests that the propensity of many Indians to abuse their Visa conditions, particularly with respect to taking up illegal work, is the main reason behind the hesitance of many countries to reform their laws to allow Indians to travel visa-free.

Solutions to the problem

While hitting the top 10 in the passport index shall be a distant dream, and as far as this author is concerned, will probably never come to fruition, it must be said that a lot can be done right now to improve the situation without too much difficulty. Essentially, the Indian Govt. (and to a very large extent the Indian people as well, but I digress), will have to convince countries that its citizens are indeed no threat to the economic, political or social integrity of the state that they are visiting.

India’s diversity and economic disparity demands a multi-pronged solution to the problem, and not simply ignoring it, considering that most, if not all countries want to engage with the citizens of the world’s fastest growing economy. For the sake of this particular discussion, I shall divide the countries seemingly arbitrarily into three tiers:

Tier 1: UK/Ireland, USA, gulf countries

Tier 2: Schengen countries, NZ, Aus, Canada, Japan

Tier 3: Most other countries

Tier 3-Complete reciprocity:

This is probably the easiest tier to address and from a numerical perspective provides the largest dividends. India should press for a bilateral visa-free/e-Visa regime with all these countries. A good start would be to press for an e-Visa system for Indians traveling to countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Mongolia, and Peru. These are countries that do not see large-scale Indian migration (ergo, minimal abuse of the visas), and considering the costs and trouble involved, most Indians traveling to these places are serious visitors, and not potential illegal immigrants.

It is quite surprising that India has not pushed for reciprocity with these countries already while offering them the e-Visa facility, as it seems unlikely that unilateralism for these countries is necessarily resulting in major economic dividends as none of these countries make up for top 10 tourist arrivals as of 2013. One would hope and expect that as the Indian government expands the e-Visa list to include up to 150 countries, most of them from the ostensible third-world, it would push for complete reciprocity from their side.

Tier 2: Reciprocity under certain conditions

This is the most interesting list, and would require considerable maneuvering and negotiations on the part of the Indian government. Considering that there is a genuine concern that a visa-free regime for Indians could potentially lead to large-scale illegal immigration in most of these countries, there is no way out but for the Indian government to accept only partial reciprocity for certain category of Indian citizens.

A solution would be to introduce a tiered passport system, with stringent rules in place for applicants for a passport that allows visa-free access to countries in this tier, based on demonstrable economic and familial ties to India. The rules for this particular passport would have to take into account concerns of the aforementioned countries. One would also expect the government to keep a premium charge for this particular passport (by at least a factor of 2) to deter non-serious people from applying for it. While undoubtedly a bit of a discriminatory move on the part of the Indian state, this is qualitatively no different to issuing diplomatic and service passports, which already enjoy much greater mobility than the regular one.

Tier 1: Unilateral visa policy:

This category of countries is much harder to negotiate with as they have rather stringent laws about granting visa-free access and/or see a large-scale Indian migration, many of them intending to do so illegally. Since the USA and the UK also send the highest number of visitors to India, one requires a relatively easy visa regime for their nationals in view of economic interests. This does not imply that one cannot come up with creative solutions.

For example, the government can negotiate for visa-free access to the UK (and by extension Ireland, via the Common Travel Area) for at least the Indian-origin residents of Schengen countries. Since 2011, the Schengen zone has introduced biometric residence permits, and one would think that a permit by an EU member would be a good enough metric to judge a visitor to the UK/Ireland. Similarly, one could negotiate with the US to grant life-long B1/B2 visas for Indians who have successfully held two such visas prior. Lastly, the gulf countries could be persuaded to follow the model of many third nations which value a US/Schengen Visa whilst admitting a person into the country.

In short, the MEA and PM Modi should seriously consider improving the credibility of the Indian passport. Intercultural exchange and people to people exchange is the sole way that one can truly implement the slogan ‘Vasudhaiva kutumbakam’ in letter and spirit.