No easy visa for India after violating FRRO rules once

Mumbai, Dec 27 (UNI) Violating the visa regulations once, an Australian citizen married to an Indian has been continuously harassed by the Foreigner's Regional Registration Office (FRRO) and denied visa leading to the couple moving the Bombay High Court for justice.

Reza Borhani, an Australian citizen born in Iran, applied for a five year working visa and was granted one year instead allowing for yearly renewal for the remaining period in 2002.

However, the condition of the visa was to restrict movement only to Chennai, which was flouted and for the same he paid a fine of 30 Dollars to the FRRO in 2003.

Subsequently, he was black listed by the FRRO and given only a three-month visa from August 30 to November 30.

The moment he stepped on Mumbai soil on August 31, Reza was harassed by the immigration office here and from the airport itself made to take a flight to Singapore where he was stranded for two days.

Says Tora, his wife, ''The immigration office here did not recieve the fax from the Ministry of Home Affairs dated July 21 that stated they had no objection from security angle to grant him the visa. They treated Reza like a criminal due to racial prejudice.'' Further, they filed an application before the FRRO seeking Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) recognition. But the FRRO dispatched the documents with a letter dated November 24 on November 30 (same date as expiry of Reza's visa) stating the application could not be accepted by post.

However, the affidavit of the petitioners states that as per the central government's circular, if any case of eligibility is doubtful, then the application has to be referred to the Ministry of Home Affairs while, in their case, the documents were returned.

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