The NR EYE: Travel to Goa made easy for NRGs with foreign passports Friday, 13 August 2010 04:19

There is hope now for hundreds of Non-Resident Goans (NRGs) who, ironically, found themselves being labelled ‘tourists’ in their own land. These are the ones who acquired foreign passports for work but now wish to spend their retired lives in their homeland.

The tiny western Indian state that survives mainly on tourism, has also been a major manpower exporter for hundreds of years. The first wave of Goan migration has been traced to the sixteenth century. Goan migrants are scattered across all continents. Many of them hold foreign passports which they took for employment purposes, but continue to have family and property in Goa.

If such people ever wanted to return and settle down in their homeland, they were being issued tourist visas and asked to leave after the expiry of this travel document. Goa’s Commissioner for NRI Affairs, Eduardo Faleiro recently spoke of having received numerous complaints from Goans holding foreign passports that some Indian embassies and high commissions abroad issue tourist visas to them.

These visas are usually valid for three to six months only and non-resident Goans have to leave the country once the period expires although they have property matters and even families here.

Considering the situation, Faleiro wrote to union Home Minister P Chidambaram last month seeking that the earlier practice of issuing long-term visas be resumed. According to Faleiro, the union minister has responded to his letter saying issuing tourist visas to such individuals was “not correct.”

Chidambaram was reported to have said, “The category of persons mentioned by you should be given long-term visas. My ministry is advising the missions concerned as well as the foreigners regional registration office (FRRO), Goa, to ensure that long-term visas are issued to the said category of persons and that these visas are extended from time to time.”

Faleiro said he was also taking up the matter with the minister of external affairs and with Indian missions abroad. Times News Network quoted Faleiro as saying that he had also spoken to state home minister Ravi Naik, so that the home department and the FRRO deal leniently with non-resident Goans even if the latter hold tourist visas. He has asked that such NRGs be treated not as foreigners but as persons of Indian origin holding foreign passports.

The India authorities have advised Goans with foreign passports to apply for the Person of Indian Origin (PIO) or Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card, which allow the holder to stay in India for 15 years and 30 years respectively without any need for a visa. Both these cards are renewable.

Another encouraging initiative being taken up for the welfare of migrant Goans is the proposed institution of a Chair in Goa University dedicated to diaspora studies. While Goans may not constitute the massive numbers of diaspora such as Malayalees, Tamils, Telugus or even Punjabis and Gujaratis, the impact of migration has been profound on the tiny state.  A study last June, one of the first of its kind, showed that Goa received nearly Rs 8 bn last year from some 56,000 of its diaspora abroad. The Goa Migration Study was a joint project by the state government’s office of the commissioner for non-resident Indian affairs, the union ministry of overseas Indian affairs and the Kochi-based Centre for Development Studies (CDS). According to Dr S Irudaya Rajan, professor with the research unit on international migration at CDS, remittances were equivalent to 6.3 per cent of the state’s domestic product or 33 per cent of the revenue receipts. The detailed analysis revealed that 12 per cent households in Goa had a migrant living abroad.

At least 82 per cent of the households used the remittances for daily subsistence. Nearly a third of the households used it for educational purposes. More than a quarter of the households deposited it in banks. One-fifth of remittances were used for building houses and purchasing land.  The study also found out that the Goan diaspora was settled in 43 countries and 56 percent were in the Middle East, 13 per cent in Europe, 11 per cent in South and South East Asia, and 10 per cent in North America. While South Goa accounted for 66 per cent of emigrant households, North Goa had 34 per cent. Nearly 20 per cent of all migrants abroad were women. For the government to be able to make suitable policies and schemes for the welfare of overseas Goans as well as their families and other interests back home, it is necessary to have such scientifically gathered data.

The proposed Chair for diaspora studies is expected to fulfill thus vital need to study the various aspects of population migration. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has has asked Goa University to send a proposal in this regard following Faleiro’s discussions with union human resources minister, Kapil Sibal.

According to Faleiro, the chair on diaspora studies will deal with the questions and issues regarding the Indian diaspora in academic depth and in a comparative context along with the study of migration in other countries.

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