Most Chinese workers who were in India on inappropriate visas may have gone back, a senior home ministry official said on Wednesday ahead of the 31 October deadline for seeking employment visas.
The Indian mission in China has received only 1,900 applications for employment visa, the senior official said.
The applications will be vetted by security agencies and processed by the labour ministry to examine if the skills that they bring with them to India are available within the country.
The applications follow the July decision of the home ministry to strictly enforce visa conditions.
One of them was that foreigners who had entered on business visa but were holding jobs would have to apply afresh to seek employment visa. The other rule was the home ministry’s decision to disallow visas to foreigners who did not hold any specialised skills and were categorised as semi-skilled and unskilled labour.
Union home Minister P. Chidambaram had early this month made it clear that India did not need Chinese workers who did not hold any specialised skills since there were enough people in India who were semi-skilled.
Government officials said the home minister’s statement wasn’t just restricted to Chinese workers but all foreigners. The decision, originally taken in July, is being formally incorporated in the country’s revamped Visa Manual – that spells out the rules governing grant of visas.
There was no firm figure on the number of people who came under the two categories. Home Ministry officials said their number was at least a few thousands.
“We believe that most of them may have already gone back, on completion of their contracts,” the home ministry official said on conditions of anonymity.
“The reports that we are receiving from the field, during surveys by state labour department, also point to this,” the official said.
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