Afghanistan migrant crisis: Visa applications of 60,000 Afghans under review, says MHA

Amid the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan, nearly 60,000 visa applications of Afghan nationals under India's new 'e-Emergency X-Misc Visa' are under consideration, a Ministry of Home Affairs official informed.

News agency ANI quoted a senior official of the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) as saying that the visa applications for such a large number of nationals from a single country were under process after the Indian government introduced a new category under emergency e-visa, just two days after the collapse of the Afghan government.

E-visas for Afghans in India

According to the newly introduced category, all Afghans, irrespective of their religion, can apply for the 'e-Emergency X-Misc Visa' online and the applications will be processed in New Delhi. The MHA official has reportedly informed that the ministry had received around 20,000 requests from Afghan nationals within two days of the introduction of the ''e-Emergency X-Misc Visa'.

The official said that the applications that were under consideration would be cleared once the intelligence agencies gave green signals to them. "The final decision will be made after the security clearance," the official added. The official also informed that the Indian Embassy cancelled stamp visas that were applied before August 15 after 11,000 visas were reportedly stolen from the embassy. "All stamp visas were cancelled with immediate effect," said the MHA official. According to him, normally, a window of 30 days has been made for security clearance in case of e-visas. The visa is issued once it gets clearance from the intelligence agencies.

Afghanistan migrant crisis: Several seek asylum in India

As the process needs at least 30 days, the government has introduced 'e-Emergency X-Misc Visa' to facilitate fast-track urgent applications for entry to India. "Most of the applications have been received from Afghan nationals who moved to Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and other adjoining countries after Taliban had taken over the government," said the MHA official.

Since India has headquarters or branches of several missions for refugees, several applicants are seeking asylum in India as it helps them to move to other countries in the future. The official informed that those Afghan nationals who were evacuated to India under the new e-Emergency X-Miscellaneous visa will be granted a six-month visa. Subsequently, they will be provided with a 'stay visa' due to Afghanistan migrant crisis.

(With inputs from ANI, Image: AP)