HYDERABAD: “Indians are different. They are good at work and contribute much to your economy. Please keep this in mind while making new rules for Visas,” this was the message the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) conveyed to the United States and Australia.
Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh told reporters in Hyderabad on Saturday that the MEA reminded the USA and Australia about the professional acumen of Indians. Singh was in the city to participate in MEA’s first “States Outreach” programme jointly organised by MEA and Telangana State.
Asked about the change of H-1B Visa rules in US, the Union Minister said: “Nothing has been implemented so far. So we informed about the contribution of Indians in USA and asked them to keep the same in mind while changing the rules.” The same message was conveyed to Australia, which is also contemplating to change the Visa rules.
On the attacks on Indians in the US, Singh said, “The US has informed us that all the people are citizens of the US and the US government will take care of them.”
Singh said they organised the first States Outreach programme in Telangana as the state as a large Diaspora from here were living abroad.
NRI Affairs Minister KT Rama Rao assured that Telangana would work closely with MEA to protect the interests of immigrants. Rao raised several issues including difficulty in bringing back the mortal remains of immigrants, especially from Saudi Arabia. He also requested the Centre to choose Hyderabad, if Saudi Arabia is willing to open their second Consulate office in India.
VK Singh assured that they would address these issues soon and bring in a new insurance policy for immigrants. He said starting with 86 head post offices, all 800 post offices in TS would soon have passport seva centres. An integrated building of MEA - Videsh Bhavan- would be set up in Hyderabad. The state offered a letter of intent on land allotment to MEA during the programme. They also launched e-Sanad on a pilot basis in TS.