[net.nlang.india] Getting a visa in Madras

bala@CS-Mordred (Bala Krishnamurthy) (07/03/85)

A voice of experience (maybe)....

I had originally come on a 2 year visa in '80 to do a MS in Math.
Before it expired in '82 I went to Madras and came back. I then
switched to Purdue to do my PhD in CS. 
Last year ('84) I went to Madras to attend my brother's wedding.

Thus, I had done all the bad things I could do: switched to
another school, another program and had gone back to Madras
during the middle of my program. To add to the fun, I have
two brothers in this country who came a year or two before me
and became LPR's (legal permanent residents as Helen at the
Madras Consulate put it - I thought she was talking about
line printers, but i digress...).

When I went to my "interview" I knew that it was not going
to be the easiest thing. After the usual questions (how
can you convince me you will come back) and the usual
quotes (86% of F-1 don't come back) the lady from Maine said
-- "We have a problem" (uh oh).

What saved the day was this: "The only way anyone can convince
you of coming back, is BY COMING BACK. And I am here".

I got a 3 year extension (till '87) and I went home in May '85 again
and came back without any hassles. Of course, I didn't have to 
see the "tough lady" (she is more popular [notorious?] than 
any other lady in Madras -- Sujatha even wrote a short story
about her in Kalaimagal).

Moral of the story: If you do have to go home, be calm.
Rumours about Madras being realy bad are not all true.
Presence of mind and a certain degree of fatalism help.
Think that your chances are 50-50. They are.
Usual stories about being the only child of your parents and owning
property in India are best forgotten.

Cheers,
bala

murali@cvl.UUCP (Muralidhara Subbarao) (07/04/85)

> 
> Of course, I didn't have to see the "tough lady" ....
> 
> Rumours about Madras being realy bad are not all true.
>
   Out of 19 IIT Madras students who had applied for a visa
   by June 15th this year (some of them had admissions to some of the
   finest graduate schools in US) only 3 had been issued visas
   (two for Physics and one for Math). Others are waiting
   and hoping that the situation will change. 
   Is this not bad enough?

> Presence of mind and a certain degree of fatalism help.
> Think that your chances are 50-50. 

   Fatalism helps only to console yourself if the visa is refused,
   not to get one. At present, I guess, the chances of
   getting a visa is more like 10-90.
  

                                              Murali.