INDIAN VISA
Todd, Susie and I have been traveling to Europe and India for 15 years. Years ago we got ten year visas to India which would allow us to come and go without having to apply for a visa, permission to enter and stay in a country. Europe doesn’t require a visa, only a valid passport.
Suddenly we realized that our ten year visas have run out with a month to go before we leave. So we are going through to the process of applying for another ten year visa.
The last time we got a ten year visa we downloaded the application form, filled it out and included a passport photo and a check for the cost of the visa.
But now it turns out that it a mixture of an on line application and the uploading of the photos and a copy of our driver’s licenses and a page of our passport digitally with forms that we have to send in. The application form isn’t clear, we don’t know how to upload the photos and scanned copies of documents and are warned that if we make any mistakes we will lose the $160 we have paid and have to start over.
We cannot complain because we know difficult the United States makes it for a person from India to get a visa to visit the United States. Once, when my passport was stolen in Sri Lanka I went to the embassy and sat in a large room where Sri Lankans were waiting to be interviewed for a visa. The interviews were all conducted through heavy glass windows behind which the interrogating officers sat. There as a deathly silence in the room. No one wanted to draw attention to themselves and didn’t know what they might say that might disqualify them. I was treated in a relaxed and friendly way and go my renewed passport immediately.
So this is what I am thinking about as Susie and I, we’ve been at this for four hours still have a ways to go, sit here trying to do this right and avoid rejection.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 