New Delhi: The emergency visa for Afghan nationals who want to come to India amid the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan has nothing to do with the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), and is open to all communities, sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) have told ThePrint.
While CAA pertains to citizenship in India, the “new category of visa” is only for Afghans who want to visit India for a brief period to escape the evolving situation.
Moreover, the rules for the citizenship law haven’t been framed yet.
“This is a new category of visa to fast-track the applications of Afghans who want to come to India in view of the prevailing situation in Afghanistan, which is developing rapidly, with the Taliban now taking charge of Kabul,” said a source in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
“This visa is called ‘e-Emergency X-Misc Visa’, and all Afghan nationals can apply for the same. By all we mean every Afghan national, irrespective of religion,” the source added.
According to the source, the visa will be granted to individuals online after “required security checks”, and will initially be valid for six months. The process to grant this visa is expected to start by Wednesday.
“It will be a visa that will be granted after all necessary security checks. The travel history, past records of the traveler, involvement in crimes, their documents will be thoroughly checked before the visa will be granted,” the source said.
“The six-month visa can be later extended depending upon the requirement and situation back in Afghanistan. The travelers will have to apply for this extension,” the source added.
The announcement of the visa came two days after the Taliban captured power in Afghanistan. Thousands of Afghan nationals subsequently flocked to the Hamid Karzai International Airport, clamouring to leave the country. Some even tried to cling onto an American aircraft as it took off, and reportedly fell to their deaths.
The CAA is a controversial law that seeks to ease Indian citizenship for members of six minority communities in the Muslim-majority nations of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who arrived in India before 31 December 2014.
The clarification from the MHA sources follows speculation triggered by a government statement that India is “in touch with representatives of the Afghan Sikh and Hindu communities in Afghanistan and will facilitate the repatriation of those who wish to leave that country”.
Also read: Armed Taliban on patrol, embassy sealed, airport besieged — stranded Indian’s SOS from Kabul
‘Everything will be done online’
The source said the emergency visa will be granted in as few as 72 hours if all the documents are in place.
According to the source, as the Taliban were approaching Kabul over the past few days, the Indian embassy in the Afghan capital was flooded with visa applications. The staff was working overtime to clear as many visas as possible but with the embassy shut down now, everything will be done online, the source said.
“The visa can be applied for online and will be given online. There are a lot of applications that are being received and will be processed in the coming days,” the source added.
Adding that the emergency visa has “no connection with the CAA”, the source said, “This is an emergency visa for all Afghan nationals who want to leave the country because of the situation in Afghanistan. It can be anyone. It is incorrect to confuse this with what CAA says, as that is for granting citizenship to those minorities, which is a separate process.”
(Edited by Amit Upadhyaya)
Also read: On the roads of Kabul, anxiety, fear, terror & gunshots a day after Taliban take control