A Windsor man who was distraught at not being able to visit India this year says he’s ecstatic – and relieved – that the country has restored visa service in Canada.
Tirupati Bolisetti’s plans to visit India for the first time in eight years were put in jeopardy in September after the visa-issuing company, BLS, suspended service.
Sources confirmed to CBC News on Wednesday that all electronic visas are being processed again.
“This is super useful,” said Bolisetti, the president of the Hindu temple and cultural centre. “It’s been a difficult few months.”
The suspension of operations came as tensions between India and Canada rose after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Nijjar, an advocate of Sikh independence from India, was shot dead outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, B.C., on 18 June.
India called the allegations ‘absurd’ before expelling 41 Canadian diplomats from the country.
In October, the BLS said services for people seeking entry, business, medical and conference visas would resume on 26 October. But people with Indian citizenship, like Bolisetti, were still unable to enter.
As a result of the suspension, Bolisetti says he’s heard stories from other community members who have struggled to obtain e-visas to enter India.
“Some of them obviously applied for [visas],” he says. “Some of them got [visas], some of them were in the middle of the process.”
Bolisetti says he’ll be travelling to several cities in India next month.
“My home town is Visakhapatnam,” he said. “But I have professional collaborations, so I’m going to Hyderabad; I have to go to Guwahati; I have some work to do in Bhopal.”
When BLS suspended all visa applications, Bolisetti said that whatever happens between governments, it’s “ordinary citizens” who get caught in the middle.
Two months later, he’s grateful.
“I would like to thank the Indian government for considering the requests of the community members, especially in Canada,” Bolisetti said.
