India’s Ministry of External Affairs has clarified its stance on visa applications for Bangladeshi citizens, saying that except for emergency and medical needs, visas are currently not being issued to Bangladeshis.
At present, visas are being issued only for medical and urgent needs of Bangladeshis, Anandabazar Patrika quoted Randhir Jaiswal as saying on Sunday.
When the situation in Bangladesh returns to normal, full-scale operations will resume and visa issuance will become normal, he added.
Visa services had been suspended in Bangladesh since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in August, with many Indian embassy staff repatriated to India due to unrest in Bangladesh.
Although the visa centres in Bangladesh resumed operations after the situation somewhat stabilized, protests at these centres once again disrupted the process.
As a result, additional security was deployed at the Indian embassy and visa centres by the interim government.
In September, visa application centres resumed emergency services.
Indian authorities announced that initially, visa centres would reopen in Dhaka, Rajshahi, Chittagong, Sylhet and Khulna, adding that not everyone would receive visas immediately.
It said priority would only be given to those coming for medical purposes on an emergency basis.
In a recent notice, India said the situation in Bangladesh is still not fully stable. Once law and order are restored, visa issuance will also return to normal, it stated, adding that for now, visas will be granted to Bangladeshis under certain conditions.
Meanwhile, the passports of more than 20,000 Bangladeshis have been returned in the wake of “widespread protests and threats directed toward the Indian High Commission in Dhaka,” the Times of India reports.
Sources told the newspaper that only a limited number of urgent visa requests are currently being processed, which include exceptions like medical emergencies, student visas and double-entry visas necessary for travel to third countries.
