Former chief minister and TDP chief Chandra Babu Naidu will wait for his turn like ordinary mortals for a visa at the US embassy in Chennai. Chandra Babu’s visa has expired and he needs a fresh visa to go to the US in the last week of June. Chandra Babu Naidu was exempted from physical appearance at the US Embassy all theses years in his capacity as the Chief Minister.
The US embassy normally waives the rule of personal appearance for certain categories of people like chief ministers. It would be a new experience for Babu, who is attending an interview for visa. Babu has rubbed shoulders with non other than the then US president Bill Clinton when he came to Hyderabad. Babu as the chief minister had issued recommendation letters to the US Embassy requesting visas for many people including party legislators. He even saw to it that his personal staff was not required to go to Chennai for a visa while he was in power.
However, it is learnt that Chandra Babu did not seek an exemption to make a personal appearance at the embassy for the visa. If he had sought permission, he would surely have been granted the privilege.
Chandrabau Naidu who made a personal appearance at the US embassy in Chennai has been granted visa to visit the US. Babu spent about five minutes at the embassy. He has been given a visa for 10 years. His visa has expired and he applied for a fresh visa. Babu is visiting the US for about 10 days. He will leave Hyderabad on June 26. He is expected to take part in the TANA conference during his visit.
The fake visa scam and the issue of actress Asha Saini being arrested for trying to smuggling out a girl by claiming her to be her make up artist has sent shockwaves in Tollywood. Many top producers and director are also said to be involved in this. Mallikarjuna Rao said to the media that some time back a delegation of about 20 artists went to the US to take part in TANA conference.
AVS tried to include his brother in the delegation as an astrologer. The US consulate did not issue a visa to him stating that the services of an astrologer were not needed in a cultural team. AVS now wants to know what this has to do with the visa scam.
2008/3/14 8:11:11 The issue of fake visa and the smuggling of people, in the name of artists and technicians has taken a big twist. The US consulate officials state that there are some very big names in the list of 200 people who have been banned from entering into the US forever.
A big producer, a leading hero and also a leading comedian are said to be in the list that is in the possession of the investigating agencies in Chennai. The gossip in film nagar is now about the identity of these three people. Many names are coming out but no one is yet to come out on record. Till then, the suspense over the names of the big fish involved in the fake visa racket will remain under wraps.
2008/3/14 12:58:37 The issue of fake visa and the smuggling of people, in the name of artists and technicians has taken a big twist. The US consulate officials state that there are some very big names in the list of 200 people who have been banned from entering into the US forever.
A bit producer, a leading hero and also a leading comedian are said to be in the list that is in the possession of the investigating agencies in Chennai. The gossip in film nagar is now about the identity of these three people. Many names are coming out but no one is yet to come out on record. Till then, the suspense over the names of the big fish involved in the fake visa racket will remain under wraps.
2011/9/2 3:10:48 Visa related services will soon be available in post offices -- in remote areas.
India Post Friday said it has signed an agreement with VFS Global to provide the services. VFS Global is a leading outsourcing firm providing administrative functions for diplomatic missions across the world.
The agreement was signed Aug 8.
Under the pact, post office counters will be used for fee collection, sell visa application forms, provide information and other services.
India Post and VFS Global are also planning to cooperate in utilizing India Post?s courier service, Speed Post for moving passports to VFS offices and embassies, and their delivery back to the applicants.
Currently people from smaller cities and rural areas travel long distances to avail passport and visa services.
Lack of information is a major area of concern as this allows unscrupulous elements to cheat unsuspecting people. (IANS)
2011/10/18 3:04:41 The recent denial of visa to the Dalai Lama by the South African government has been dragged to courts here.
In an affidavit before the Western Cape High Court, representatives of the Tibetan spiritual leader in South Africa said the country's High Commission in New Delhi had declined to accept a visa application on his behalf on two occasions.
Then on the third occasion, the application was directed to a private processing agency. Since a reply to the request for visa was not forthcoming, the Dalai Lama eventually cancelled his visit.
He had been invited to attend the 80th birthday celebrations of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu in Cape Town Oct 7. He was also scheduled to speak at other engagements.
Indian officials accompanying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said this matter, however, will not come up during his discussions with his host and South African President Jacob Zuma, since New Delhi considers it an internal matter of Pretoria.
Mumbai, April 22 (IANS) Singer Sonu Nigam, who was due to perform at London's O2 arena Sunday, is disappointed after he had to cancel his visit following visa issues.
Nigam was due to share stage with Pakistani singer Atif Alsam at Dhamaka Bollywood Concert London 2012, but had to pull out after his group members failed to get visas.
"Disappointed and enraged to inform everyone that I'm not coming to London. Hard to believe that except my visa, not a single visa for my group was done. Never happened in 20 years of overseas travel," Nigam tweeted.
"Don't know whom to blame. Our entire team's time and repute has been wasted. Only if the show is postponed now to another date, would we be vindicated. Prayers everyone," he further posted.
2012/2/12 7:51:31 The family members of Jangam Praveen Reddy, the city youth who has been stabbed in London, have been granted UK visa.
Praveen, who was doing MBA from London School of Business, was critically stabbed on Friday night in the Newham borough of London.
Praveen's brother Jayashankar Reddy told reporters here on Sunday that the family members have been granted UK visa and they were rushing to London. He said Praveen was still critical, but there has been an improvement in his condition. Earlier on Saturday, Foreign Minister SM Krishna spoke to Praveen's father Sudhakar Reddy and assured him of all help from the Centre. Krishna also spoke to acting High Commissioner in the UK Rajesh Prasad asking him to extend all possible help to Praveen's family.
Meanwhile, three Indians have reportedly been arrested on the charges of attempt to murder. However, the motive behind the incident was not yet known. (INN)
Saif Ali Khan not refused visa, say festival organisers
2006/12/13 4:55:55 Organisers of the ongoing Sixth Kara Film Festival Tuesday denied suggestions that Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan was denied visa by the Pakistan government.
Khan was not coming because of the clash with his shooting schedule, a spokesman of the festival was quoted as saying, rejecting the "notion" that the visa had been denied to him.
Khan, along with many of the artists of "Omkara", were expected to be present at next Saturday's screening of the film that is based on Shakespeare's "Othello."
Media reports here did not mention why Khan's non-arrival had been attributed to denial of visa, a frequent occurrence in India and Pakistan when non-official visits are exchanged.
This would have been Saif's second visit to Pakistan, the first one being a charitable event last year for which he had accompanied Malaika Arora and Sushmita Sen.
The arrival of Ajay Devgun and other star cast would be known only 48 hours before the special screening, the organizers said.
Vishal Bhardwaj, the director of Omkara, is expected to make an appearance along with the stars.
Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, who is the festival's ambassador and a regular, his brother Mukesh and some other Bollywood film personalities have attended the festival that has had many Indian films screened this year.
The tickets for the much awaited Rajanikanth blockbuster film ‘Sivaji’ were sold out for the first two weeks within an hour of the opening of the advance booking in Chennai on Sunday. There were long queues outside the cinema halls. People queued up from early morning for booking the tickets.
The police had a tough time managing the crowd and the long queues spilled over onto the roads. Some enterprising conmen even printed fake tickets for the film and even sold them to gullible fans at exorbitant rates even before the theatres were finalized!
The film is being released with a record number of prints. The combination of Rajanikanth, Shankar and A R Rehaman has naturally upped the ante for the film. Shreya and Suman are the the other leading artists in the film. The film is hitting the screen worldwide on June 15.
2011/9/23 8:54:15 Worried by continuing slide in the international students' numbers, the Australian government has decided to relax visa norms further.
The decision has coincided with former New South Wales minister Michael Knight's report that calls for loosening the onerous immigration requirements for international students.
The government has accepted all 41 recommendations made by the 'Knight Review'. These recommendations include similar assessment level for all international students regardless of their country of passport. The students would also need to show A$36,000 less to get Australian student visa.
The rising Australian dollar and global financial crisis have dealt a serious blow to the universities and vocational education colleges in the country as international students, especially from India and China, have started shunning Australia.
"The university and vocational education sectors have been concerned for some time that the visa system was making them uncompetitive in what is stiff competition among provider nations," Tertiary Education Minister Chris Evans said Thursday.
"They were wanting to make sure our visa system was allowing them to compete on an equal basis," the minister added.
The changes proposed by the Labor government include a more streamlined visa process for international students coming down under for higher studies. This would mean easing financial criteria. International students are now required to prove they have sufficient funds to finance their studies and living expenses in Australia upfront.
The proposed changes would also see introduction of a new work visa for international students. There are speculations that this work visa could be something similar to the ones offered by Canada and New Zealand to international students once they have finished their studies.
The post-studies work visa is likely to be of two to four years' validity depending upon the level of studies completed by the international student in Australia.
While the financial requirements would be relaxed considerably, the onus would be on the student to establish they are genuine students and have plans to return to home country after finishing the studies.
"It's not enough to be genuine about your studies and have no intention of going home, nor is it enough to be genuine about going home but not serious about your studies," Michael Knight said while speaking in a press conference in Canberra Thursday.
The assessment levels which decide financial requirements for various countries have been the major impediment for students from countries like India and China as they are classified as "high risk" countries. The higher assessment levels also mean students have to show much more funds in the bank accounts before student visa could be issued.
"Our consultations found that the financial requirements for student visas were too onerous, so we are reducing the financial requirements for some applicants, with students now needing around $36,000 less in the bank when applying for a visa," Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said in a statement accompanying the report's release. (IANS)
US President Barrack Obama has signed an executive order (G.O.) recently, easing the norms for sanctioning US Visas to the tourists. It is mainly intended to attract the tourists especially from developing countries like India and China, which stood first and second in tourists visit to US.
America is expecting at least 14% growth in the tourists' inflow in next five years. James W Herman, the in-charge of counseling affairs in US Embassy in India has said "The decision will surely increase the inflow of tourists into our country. We have been taking all measures to ease the process for sanctioning US Visas to tourists. We have already increased 6% staff in our US consulates in India and also opened two new consulates at Hyderabad and Mumbai cities. We have also made several changes to reduce the waiting period for Visas in our offices. Majority of our tourists are from India. So, we are trying to ease the process of Visa sanctioning to Indians. India stood in 2nd place in working visas and student visas. We have allotted 68 thousands of H1b Visas during the last year and sorted out 7 lakhs Visa application in India alone. So, we give India utmost priority in granting Visas," said Herman.
2010/10/2 9:25:12 The latest sensation in the industry Tapsi Pannu who made her debut with ‘Jummandhi Nadham’ is supposed to go to Switzerland for her film shooting. But, when she went for visa interview held by Swiss Embassy in Mumbai, the officials of the Embassy demands her to show a proof as actress for sanctioning the visa. But, Tapsi’s agent failed to provide any proof about her profession and hence the officials have rejected her application. It’s learnt that Tapsi had a hot discussion with the Embassy Officials for their ignorance about her identity.
2012/4/1 6:47:52 The South Central Railway will organize a three day Special Drive from April 2 to 4 at all the Railway Stations in Hyderabad and Secunderabad to popularise the use of Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVM) and to boost the sale of Smart Cards among rail commuters.
According to the SCR, since its introduction in February, 2010, the number of ATVMs in twin cities gradually increased from 31 to 67 and at present, ATVMs at all the 26 MMTS railway stations issue around 5525 Tickets per day on an average.
It is very convenient and time saving for the rail commuters to use Automatic Ticket Vending Machine (ATVM) to get their tickets hassle free. Especially, the frequent travelers of MMTS trains find this system very useful as they can get their tickets quickly through smart card based ATVMs, the SCR said. These commuters are not only able to save their time by avoiding long queues at the Booking Counters but also make sure they board their train in time with out missing it .
In spite of these advantages, General Ticket Booking Counters continue to witness long queues even though the available ATVMs are still having capacity to issue large number of tickets. As the patronage for MMTS trains and other trains is continuously increasing, regular commuters need to shift to ATVM for their tickets in order to see that the long queues at Ticket Counters are reduced to the barest minimum.
Hence, with a view to popularize ATVMs and Smart Cards, Officers and Inspectors of Commercial Department of South Central Railway will counsel the passengers on where to get the ATVM Smart Cards, advantages of ATVMs, how to use ATVMs etc during the special drive period.
Supervisory counters at the MMTS Stations issue ATVM Smart Cards with a minimum value of Rs.70 which includes security deposit of Rs 50 and ticketing value of Rs 20. Smart Cards can be topped up to a maximum of Rs.1000 in multiples of Rs 50.
Smart Cards also has the added advantage of 5% Bonus offer, ie., the passengers can get tickets worth of 105 by paying Rs 100. The round the clock working, user friendly and touch Screened ATVMs issue Platform Tickets, first & second class tickets for MMTS trains and unreserved Tickets for express / ordinary trains for travel from the station of issue to any station in S.C. Railway.
The SCR has requested the passengers to make use of the smart way of getting tickets through ATVMs at all MMTs Stations in the Twin-Cities instead of adding to the length of queues of the general ticket counters. (INN)
2008/3/20 5:43:14 Actor Mohan Babu celebrated his birthday in style at his school in Tirupathi. Union minister Purandareshwari was the chief guest at the function. She heaped laurels and Mohan Babu and he in turn praised her sky high.
The mutual admiration for each other by Mohan Babu and Purandareshwari surprised everyone. Mohan Babu gave some broad hints that he is joining the congress party. Purandareshwari is likely to take the lead in arranging for Mohan Babu’s entry into the congress party.
Mohan Babu was in the Telugu Desam for some time. He later quit the party following some differences with Chandra Babu Naidu. Mohan Babu was major partner in Babu’s Heritage Foods. But Babu slowly eased Mohan Babu completely from the affairs of the company and also got Mohan Babu’s stake in Heritage foods down completely.
Fans turned up in huge numbers on Sunday — in some theatres as early as 6 a.m. — to make advanced bookings for the much-awaited `Superstar' Rajinikanth-starrer `Sivaji'. Serpentine queues had formed by 7.30 a.m. in front of most theatres scheduled to screen the movie from June 15.
Though it was advertised that the bookings would begin on Sunday, the actor's fans' associations seemed to have blocked several shows for the first weekend. AVM Rajeshwari in Vadapalani, the theatre owned by the film's production house, displayed a message that the first three days had been blocked by the fans' associations. Several fans were disappointed that the coveted `first-day-first-show' tickets were not available.
At Udhayam Theatre complex in Ashok Nagar, more than 500 persons had gathered by 7.30 a.m. They had formed a queue more than 500-metres long and several of the actor's die-hard fans did not mind joining in.
Police were seen regulating the crowd in front of the Abirami Megamall in Purasawalkam. The theatre complex proprietor `Abirami' Ramanathan was seen supervising the queues. Mr.Ramanathan, incidentally, is also the distributor for the film in Chennai region. According to trade reports, he had paid close to Rs.6.5 crore, a record for any film in the circle. `Sivaji' is expected to be released in 18 theatres in the city. This should facilitate in one go an estimated 15,000 ticket-holders to watch the near-simultaneous screenings across the city.
Islamabad, Dec 18 (IANS) After her controversial nude photo shoot for an Indian fashion magazine, actress Veena Malik has reportedly left India and arrived here, ostensibly to renew her Indian visa.
According to Geo TV, Veena entered Pakistan through the Wagha border in Punjab on Friday.
The report said she was clad in burqa (veil) and her passport has her real name Zahida.
A source said Indian actor Ashmit Patel accompanied her to the border.
After she walked into Pakistan, some friends picked her up. Most likely she will stay with some friend in Lahore.
Veena went to India for a photo shoot for the fashion magazine on a 45-day visa.
Veena in 2010 testified against her boyfriend, Pakistani bowler Mohammed Asif, alleging he was involved in match fixing.
She became popular after her stint in the fourth season of reality show “Bigg Boss”. She was denounced by Islamic clerics for her nude photos in the FHM magazine.
The actress is set to have her ’swayamvar’ on India’s national television, through Imagine TV.
CPI seeks immediate action to safeguard UNVA students
2011/7/31 4:18:33 Communist Party of India state secretary K Narayana on Sunday appealed to Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy to take immediate steps for protecting the interests of 2,000 students, who are pursuing their studies in University of Northern Virginia at Annandale(UNVA), which is being investigated for alleged visa fraud.
Releasing a copy of his letter to the media at Makhdoom Bhavan, Himayathnagar, Mr Narayana said the raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) department and Federal Bureau of Investigation have endangered the future of a large number of students from the state, who are enrolled in various courses.
He said that the visa-fraud charges levied against the UNVA was reminiscent of similar incident of the Tri-Valley University in California in January.
Mr Narayana appealed to the Chief Minister to use his Office to mount pressure on Centre to depute a Cabinet Minister to personally take stock of situation.
The CPI leader added that the Central government should take steps to continue students pursue their studies and improve the confidence of anxious parents.
Meanwhile, Special Secretary (Protocol) in the state government and in-charge of the NRI cell, N V Ramana Reddy stated "We have not been contacted by any concerned party. We will look into the matter when we receive complaints."
It may be recalled that both the UNVA and Tri-Valley University in California were accused of fraudulent practices in an investigative report carried by the US-based Chronicle of Higher Education, on private unaccredited universities exploiting visa loopholes to make money by cheating foreign students.
The UNVA, based in a suburb of Washington, Annandale, has about 2,400 students. Of these, an overwhelming number, around 90 per cent are Indian and an overwhelming majority of them are from Andhra Pradesh. (INN)
2011/10/26 21:28:40 (IANS) The United States has assured India that it was "continuing to work" on the issue of hundreds of Indian students affected by the "horrible visa scam" by California based "sham" Tri-Valley University. Some 85 percent of over 1500 TVU students were Indian, mostly from Andhra Pradesh.
US authorities are reviewing a letter sent by the Indian Ambassador Nirupama Rao to the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking that the cases of Indian students should be viewed in a "fair and reasonable manner," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters Wednesday,
"She has (received), and we are reviewing that letter, and we intend to answer it," she said when asked if the treatment meted out to some of the Indian students affected by the closure of the university was justified.
"We had a pretty horrible visa scam, where a fake university petitioned and got visas for a bunch of students to come over and then actually turned out not to be a real educational institution," Nuland said.
"So we did take action, federal authorities closed down Tri-Valley University on January 11th, and we've also been working very hard, as we have told Indian authorities, to try to find other places in the US for these students who got scammed," she said.
As of Oct 19, 435 of the 1,500 former Tri-Valley University students were approved to be processed for transfer to other universities, she said. "And of the remaining cases, some students we're not going to be able place, but we're continuing to work on this issue."
Asked about the role of State Department officials in issue of visas to the students of the sham university, the official said: "Well, we issue visas on the basis of documentation that we get from institutions in the United States.
"So when we became aware of this, we turned it over for judicial review, and as I said, this scamming institution has now been closed down by US justice authorities."
The State Department in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and US Citizenship and Immigration Service, Nuland said, all "were involved in the busting of this group."
TVU president Susan Xiao-Ping Su, 41, was indicted in May by a federal grand jury on allegations of visa fraud and money laundering to the tune of $3.2 million by issuing visa-related documents to students in exchange for "tuition and fees".
2007/11/2 8:29:18 Trust the TDP chief Chandra Babu Naidu to go to any extent to achieve his means. Babu is now in a mood to appease the farmers and win back their trust. He was in Kadapa today s part of his road shows.
Babu went around the town in a highly decorated bullock cart. Babu was also seen wielding the whiplash and driving the bullock cart. The spectacle was amusing, to say the least. Babu once aging reiterated his demand for MSP for paddy to be raised to 1,000 rupees.
Visa related services will soon be available in post offices -- in remote areas.
The recent denial of visa to the Dalai Lama by the South African government has been dragged to courts here.
Worried by continuing slide in the international students' numbers, the Australian government has decided to relax visa norms further.
The South Central Railway will organize a three day Special Drive from April 2 to 4 at all the Railway Stations in Hyderabad and Secunderabad to popularise the use of Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVM) and to boost the sale of Smart Cards among rail commuters.
(IANS) The United States has assured India that it was "continuing to work" on the issue of hundreds of Indian students affected by the "horrible visa scam" by California based "sham" Tri-Valley University. Some 85 percent of over 1500 TVU students were Indian, mostly from Andhra Pradesh.
