NRI ( Page 34 of 82 )

Qatar Agrees Abolition of Exit Visa System September 06, 2018 10:25

Qatar has sanctioned legislation to scrap controversial exit visas which need all overseas workers to acquire their employers' approval to leave the country, according to official statements published Tuesday.There are nearly two million foreign workers…

NRIs Can Buy Up to 5% in a Security, Says Govt. September 04, 2018 16:15

Abroad investors of Indian origin are allowed to buy up to 5 percent in any security under current regulation, India's economic affairs secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said on Tuesday, in a bid to calm markets after recent regulatory changes. Indian markets fell for the second consecutive day as fresh concerns emerged over an April circular issued by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) that said foreign investment rules for companies of Indian origin had been tightened.The guidelines state that a company majority owned by Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) or Non-resident Indians (NRIs) will not be permitted to invest as a foreign portfolio investor in the country, and SEBI has directed that such funds should either be out of use or the ownership structure changed by the end of December.Garg repeated that companies majority-owned by Non-Residents Indians won't be allowed to put likewise as manage foreign funds, indicating that the policymakers are improbably to loosen up the SEBI guidelines.By Sowmya Sangam

No Change in Processing of H-1B Visas: U.S. Official August 31, 2018 11:15

There has been no alteration in the processing of H-1B visas, the Trump Administration has said ahead of next week's two-plus-two dialogue between India and the United States, during which Sushma Swaraj, External Affairs Minister is expected to raise the issue. "We are already raising the issue formally at various fora. We are speaking on it with the White House, with state administration as well as with Congressmen... We will raise it humbly at the 2+2 dialogue on September 6 in New Delhi," Sushma Swaraj told the Rajya Sabha earlier this month. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a senior official of the administration acknowledged that it was prepared for India raising the H-1B issue at the 2+2, but added that it would not have much to say as the policy remained the same and was undergoing review. "The Trump Administration's executive order has called for a broad review of the U.S. worker visa programme known as H-1B in the interest of ensuring that they are administered in a way that doesn't disadvantage U.S. workers or wages," the official said. "But there has been no change to the processing of H-1B visas. So it's really impossible for me to speculate on the outcome and any possible changes to the system. It is obviously an issue that is important to India," the official added.By Sowmya Sangam

UK NRI Wife Killer to be repatriated to India August 28, 2018 09:46

A Non-Resident Indian (NRI) serving a jail term in a United Kingdom jailhouse for killing his wife more than eight years ago is to be deported to India to serve the remainder of his slaying sentence in Punjab.The 40-year-old Harpreet Aulakh was sentenced to a minimum of 28 years in London in December 2010 for secretly planning the murder of his wife, Geeta Aulakh, after she asked for a divorce. According to a report by BBC, Harpreet Aulakh will be deported under the India-UK Repatriation of Prisoners Act."All arrangements are in place. According to the plan, the UK authorities will bring him to Delhi from where a team of Punjab police officers will bring him to Amritsar," IPS (Indian Police Service) Sahota, a top prison official in Punjab, was quoted as saying.Inspector general of prisons Roop Kumar said Harpreet Aulakh, who is from Punjab, had told UK authorities that he wanted to serve his remaining term in India.The 28-year-old Geeta Aulakh was viciously attacked with a machete during the attack in Greenford, west London, in November 2009. She was employed for Sunrise Radio, a local Indian community radio station, as a receptionist and at the time of the attack, her murder had hit headlines around the world.In November 2009, the victim, who was the mother of Harpreet Aulakh's two sons, was hacked to death with a sword, which her spouse of 10 years had selected from a choice of swords at a shop days before the slaying.The attack happened when Geeta Aulakh went to pick up her sons after leaving work at the radio station.She died a few hours later in hospital, after suffering from head injuries and her right hand severed.Harpreet Aulakh aka Sunny, and two others, 19-year-old Sher Singh, and 30-year-old Jaswant Dhillon were as well found guilty of Geeta Aulakh's murder in 2010. Sher Singh, who in reality wielded the sword, and Jaswant Dhillon, who acted as the lookout for the group, were sentenced to 22 years of imprisonment.During the proceeding, the tribunal was told that British-born Indian-origin Geeta Aulakh wanted to divorce her husband over his participation in ferocious crimes, leading him to plot her murder.By Sowmya Sangam

New Visa Rules for Spouses of Indian Nationals August 27, 2018 17:00

Spouses of the Indian nationals getting married overseas will no longer have to face troubles in converting their tourist visa to dependent visa as the government plans to modify existing rules. The decision came after the Filipina spouse of an Indian national, who married outside the country, faced difficulties in converting her tourist visa to dependent visa (X2 visa) as the existing visa rules did not let to do so. Her husband had complained to Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh."We are doing away with the particular rule and simplifying it so that irrespective of the place of the wedding, the foreign spouse can convert their tourist visa to dependent visa," a senior Home Ministry official said.According to the visa manual, a tourist visa can be converted to X2 visa only when the marriage takes place in India and gets registered within the validity of the existing tourist visa.If anyone wants to do so, contrary to that, have to go back to his or her country and come back on a dependent visa.With the amendment of the visa regulations and streamlining the process, the conversion of tourist visa to dependent visa would be permitted even if the marriage takes place on foreign soil.However, the facility will not be offered to the nationals of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Sudan citizens of Pakistani origin and stateless persons. Addressing the Parliamentary Consultative Committee earlier this week, the Home Minister had said that the government would ease safe and convenient entry inside the country to legitimate international travelers and provide all visa-related and consular services to foreigners staying in India in a faster and convenient mode.By Sowmya Sangam

NRI Gets Dh4.4 Million Compensation for Fake News Articles August 24, 2018 17:44

An Indo-Canadian businessman, who is originally from Bhuj, Gujarat, has been granted $1.2 million in amends after he was defamed in a series of fake news articles instigated by a prominent American blockchain investor. It is one of the sizable compensations of its kind in Canada.Vancouver-based Altaf Nazerali had sued Patrick Byrne, Chief Executive officer (CEO) of online retailer Overstock.com, for a campaign of lies aimed to tarnish the reputation of the Non-Resident Indian businessman. Earlier this week, the Supreme Court of Canada rejected Byrne's appeal against $1.2 million granted to the NRI businessman by the Supreme Court of British Columbia in 2016. The immense recompense for Nazerali comes after a seven-year legal conflict to unsubtle his name after a series of articles published in 2011, on an American website DeepCapture.com tried to picture the NRI man of affairs as a drug seller, weaponry dealer and mobster and a financial supporter of al-Qaida. The articles tried to show that he had links to Russian and Italian mafias. The articles were written by Mark Mitchell and published on the website - owned and published by Byrne- which reports on criminal financial conspiracies. In its 2016 judgment in favor of the NRI business, Justice Kenneth Affleck of Vancouver-based British Columbia Supreme Court had said: "Mitchell, Byrne and Deep Capture LLC engaged in a calculated and ruthless campaign to inflict as much damage on Nazerali's reputation as they could achieve. "It is clear on the evidence that their intention was to conduct a vendetta in which the truth about Nazerali himself was of no consequence." The American blockchain investor challenged the judgment in the Supreme Court of Canada which earlier this week threw it out.By Sowmya Sangam

No Official Announcement yet on Specific Amount of Financial Aid: UAE August 24, 2018 11:02

With Kerala and the Centre at loggerheads over the acceptance of Rs. 700 crore foreign aid offered by the UAE (United Arab Emirates), the Gulf country's ambassador told the Indian Express on Thursday that it…

Indian-origin Tycoons in UAE Pledge ₹125 Million for Kerala Floods August 21, 2018 10:07

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Indian-origin billionaire entrepreneurs have proclaimed contribution of Rs. 125 million for the flood-hit Kerala for flood relief operations, according to a media report.In the scenic state, about 164 people have…

NRI Dies From Beating After Asking for Directions in Gurugram August 17, 2018 17:48

A Non-Resident Indian (NRI) died on Wednesday, 15 August, after he was allegedly thrashed by a security guard and a young man over seeking directions in DLF Phase-II in Gurugram, the police said on Thursday, 16 August. Both accused have been arrested on murder charges. Somou Balaya had returned from the United States with his wife Geeta and their teenage son two months ago. He had gone to a private school on Wednesday evening in his car when the incident took place. Somou got into an altercation with security guard 46-year-old Pradeep Singh and 25-year-old local resident Manik Khosla over seeking directions while walking down to a place in Block "P" of DLF Phase-II around 4.30 p.m. The argument turned ferocious and the two accused started thrashing Somou. He passed out on the road after the beating. He was declared dead on reaching the hospital. Deepak Mathur, who conducted the post-mortem, said preliminary findings suggest Somou died due to cardiac arrest. He said the body bore superficial injuries but they were not serious enough to cause death. By Sowmya Sangam

Indians Forced to Leave GCC Countries, Reveals External Affairs Ministry August 11, 2018 12:03

The statistics from the external affairs ministry reveals that an entire of around 1.7 lakh Indians have been forced to leave the Gulf Cooperation Council countries alone since 2014. Additional 30,000 have been forced to…

Lok Sabha Enables Bill Allowing NRIs to Cast Vote Through Proxy August 11, 2018 10:45

The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed a bill to widen the facility of 'proxy voting' to abroad Indians, on the lines of service voters. Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad responding to the debate on the Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill, 2017, said it was a "momentous event" and a sizable chance was being given to Non-Resident Indians (NRIs).He said the constitution makers had given the right to vote to all Indians and as such the NRIs too had the right. "Let us not deride the contribution of NRIs. They have made a place for themselves through their hard work. Their commitment to India is truly remarkable," he said.Regarding the possibility of misuse of proxy provision, he said regulations will be made in such a way that if the law is flouted, it will lead to cancellation of the mandate. "Our sympathy is with them. They should be given the right to vote," he said.Prasad said migrant workers can at present vote from their original place of living or by satisfying the Election Commission that they were ordinary residents of their place of work."It is a properly defined legal word. Armed forces are also given right of proxy voting," he said.Regarding the proposal for presenting e-voting, Prasad said there were a batch of troubles in it and more advancement in technology will be required to make a secure architecture.Pointing to opposition benches, he said they should not have any objection if NRIs want to listen to Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he travels abroad.The Representation of the People Act, 1950 renders for allocation of seats and delimitation of constituencies for elections, qualifications of voters, and preparation of electoral rolls.The Representation of the People Act, 1951, provides for the conduct of elections and offenses and disputes related to elections. The statement of grounds and objects of the bill states that the Registration of Electoral Rules, 1960 render that the abroad voters can register themselves in the electoral rolls and exercise their franchise in person on production of original passport. "The existing rules stipulate the physical presence of the overseas electors in the respective polling station in India on the day of polling. This causes hardship to the overseas electors in exercising their franchise by being present in India on the day of polling."In view of the above difficulty faced by the overseas electors, the Government has considered the feasibility of facilitating external mode of voting i.e. voting by proxy, whereby such electors can exercise their franchise from their place of residence abroad," the statement said.According to a United Nations survey, India's diaspora population is the largest in the world with 16 million people from the country living in 2015.The bill likewise proposes changes in the Acts to make provisions gender neutral and supplant the term wife with a spouse.By Sowmya Sangam

Government: NRIs Cannot File RTI Applications August 09, 2018 11:16

The government proclaimed on Wednesday that Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) cannot file applications to Right to Information (RTI) in order to seek governance-related information from the Central government departments. "Only citizens of India have the right to seek information under the provisions of Right to Information Act, 2005. Non-Resident Indians are not eligible to file RTI applications," Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said in a written reply.He said subject to the provisions of the Act, the citizens of India could file an online application under the Right to Information Act, 2005."Currently, systems of 2,200 public authorities have been aligned to receive, process and reply to online RTIs from the applicants," the Minister said.The RTI's official website - www.rtionline.gov.in could be accessed by applicants and choose the desired Ministry or department under the Central government and file an RTI application. An elaborated user manual and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) were accessible on the website to assist in filing the application."Applicant can pay the requisite fee through online payment in this portal and submit the RTI application," the Minister said.By Sowmya Sangam