Angela Merkel: Indians Misusing Visas in Germany
By Steve Boggess (04/28/06)
In the United States, illegal immigration is the hottest political issue since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Here in Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel is having problems of her own in trying to deal with this country’s version of the same thing going on in America, only here; one does not see marches and protests by illegal immigrants from the small nation of India flooding the German streets, or strasse, the German name for street.
Recently in the Northern Germany city of Hannover, which is about a two hour drive south of Hamburg, Chancellor Merkel expressed her reluctance to relax the Visa regime, or program,for businessmen and professionals coming over from India and there have been complaints of their misuse.
Angela confirmed at a press interaction with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that there have been complaints about the misuse of German visas. She was asked during the interaction if Germany could introduce a liberalized visa regime for Indian businessmen and professionals, especially in the Information and Technology sector.
The Chancellor’s comments are significant against the backdrop of the recent controversy involving a senior IFS, or International Federation of Settlements official, Rakesh Kumar, who has been charged with allowing the flight of a dance troupe to Germany with fake documents.
The controversy of German visa policies doesn’t stop with Indian businessmen and professionals, it also involves Chinese travelers as well who are flooding into Germany and do not return home. Last year, the German embassy in Beijing issued visas for 220,000 Chinese travelers which is a three-fold increase from three years ago. This number is more than France, Italy and the Scandinavian European Union countries combined.
Germany seeks to boost business ties with China and lure Chinese tourists to this country. In order to do so, Beijing and Berlin agreed to relax entry procedures for short-term travel. This was done during Gerhardt Schroeder’s term last year. Since then, Chinese tourists no longer need to apply for individual visas in person as they can get group visas organized by a licensed travel agency for a party of several people.
There are no checks on whether everyone who comes with a tour group actually go back to China. Klaus Schmidt, who works at the German travel agency, Caissa, admitted it was a problem. He said: “We can not completely rule out that regulations are abused by certain individuals and there are sadly, people who disappear after their arrival in Europe. We report this to the police, it is a very rare thing when it happens, but it does happen.”
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal took up the issue of a liberalized visa regime for Indians during a meeting with Chancellor Merkel. They both took the opinion that a rigid visa regime was coming in the way of enhanced trade and economic ties between India and Germany, as well as the migration of Indian professionals to this country.
But as far as China is concerned, politicians from the conservative opposition are coming under attack as well. The conservative premier, or governor of the German state of Hesse, Roland Koch, intervened personally last year in urging utmost leniency in granting visas to Chinese citizens claiming that his state tops the list of popular destinations for tourists.
Klaus Schmidt predicts a further rise in numbers. He also said: “We’ve already seen a forty percent rise over the last year and we expect that trend to continue for Germany, and from here, for other destinations in Europe like France, Italy, Austria and Switzerland.”
This prediction may thrill German travel agents but the foreign ministry is scrambling to get things under control. In order to counter this, damage control experts have been sent to the embassy in Beijing, which has reported difficulties in detecting fake passports and other documents.
American and German illegal immigration seem to have a lot in common.
Steve Boggess
Wiesbaden, Germany
(Printer friendly version) Email: Steve Boggess
