NEW DELHI: Even as Iran gets ready to emerge out of a crippling sanctions blanket, India is hoping to be a step-ahead from Tehran’s new friends by extending e-visa facility to Iranian nationals.
India’s intention was conveyed during the India-Iran consular dialogue which ended last Friday in Delhi.
As per a senior government, India told the Iranian delegation that they would be including Iran in its list of countries eligible for online application of visas to India for sightseeing, short medical or casual business trip.
This is a further step from the removal of Iran from the Prior Referral Category (PRC), where it had been clubbed with Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka among a dozen odd-countries.
“PRC means that visa was granted only after a thorough background check was done by home ministry in Delhi. This obviously led to long delays in issuing of visa,” he said.
The removal of Iran from PRC was to fulfill the personal assurance given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani during their meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Ufa on July 10. Subsequently, a formal notification was issued on August 20, striking off Iran from the PRC list.
The two-day consular dialogue Indian and Iranian officials last week was held in a convivial atmosphere, with clarifications on various visa categories.
“We discussed that India would be giving the e-visa issue, but we not making an announcement now,” he said.
The forthcoming India-Iran joint commission meeting to be held later this month will likely be the platform for this announcement.
India plans to increase the number of countries eligible for 113 to over 150 by March 2016.
Visa diplomacy has been an useful diplomatic tool for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, especially on his foreign visits. The most dramatic use had been in China, when Modi surprised even his officials by extending e-tourist visa facility to Chinese citizens during his Beijing trip in May.
The announcement came despite serious concerns expressed by Indian security agencies on Chinese citizens availing the facility.
China, just like Iran, had also been in the Prior Referral Category for visas, before South Block intervened to strike off Chinese citizens off this list.
Previously, Iran had complained repeatedly to India on its strict guidelines regarding visas for Iranian citizens. At one time, Iranian cultural centres had faced shortage of teachers when several candidates did not get visa.
“A regular concern for Iranians was that their students in India, who are in the thousands, were being harassed when they applied for visa renewal at FRRO… But now, that is a thing of the past,” said a senior official.
With a liberalised visa regime in place, India is hoping to sweeten Tehran as it looks forward to enhance economic ties – even as big multinational companies, from east and west, are waiting in the wings to tap into one of the region’s powerhouses.
The move to intensify New Delhi’s courtship of Tehran has become more urgent, as the light at the end of the sanctions tunnel is now clearly visible. On Dec 15, IAEA formally closed its investigations into possible military dimensions (PMD) of Iranian nuclear program and Iranian president Rouhani announced that sanctions on Iran would be removed by end of January.
An Indian official explained that New Delhi hoped that the end of sanctions will help to energise Indian private sector interest in Iran, including in the strategic Chabahar port project.
India and Iran are hoping to conclude the contract for construction of two berths in Chabahar port, which is a key project in the Afghanistan policy for both countries. Chabahar has been positioned as critical for Afghanistan to break out of its dependence on Pakistan for land routes for trade – especially due to its refusal to allow transit for Indian trucks to Afghan border.