E-Visa for Information technology and IT enabled sector -

E-Visa for Information technology and IT enabled sector:

The Central Government has issued fresh guidelines that aim to simplify the employment visa process so as to benefit foreign nationals working in India, in the information technology (“IT”) sector.

Highlights:-The guidelines issued on 26 April 2010 (“new guidelines”) are measures taken by the Government to counter the adverse effects of the employment visa (“E-visa”) notification of December 2009. In terms of the new guidelines, E-visa applications sponsored by qualifying Indian IT companies will be processed by the Indian missions abroad and will not be subjected to any quota restrictions.

Qualifying IT & ITeS Companies

New guidelines have identified eligible companies to mean IT and Information Technology enabled Services (“ITeS”) Companies providing business, finance and technology services. Further, the individual services have also been defined as under:

» Business services comprise of basic voice, specialized voice, basic data, rules-based decision making (e.g. payment reconciliation), research and analytics (e.g. financial ratio analysis for corporate loan) and knowledge services (e.g., underwriting of insurance policies, risk management in retail finance, medical diagnostic services);

» Finance and accounting services include general accounting, transaction management, corporate finance, compliance management and statutory reporting;

» Technology services comprise nine segments viz. remote infrastructure management, application maintenance, custom application development, systems integration, IT and management consulting, embedded systems, plant engineering, product design and software product development.

Conditions for simplified procedure

The guidelines prescribe three cumulative conditions to be satisfied to be eligible for the simplified E-visa processing. These are:

» The Indian company sponsoring the foreign national must declare that it is an IT, ITeS company falling within the definition detailed above

» The Indian company must either be a Software Technology Park of India (“STPI”) unit, Export Oriented Unit (“EOU”), or an IT Company operating out of an SEZ.

» The Foreign national for whom the E-visa is to be given must receive annual remuneration in excess of USD 25,000

Indian IT, ITeS companies that satisfy the prescribed criteria will be able to avail services of skilled foreign nationals without any restriction on the number of such individuals who can obtain E-visa.

An Employment visa is granted to those who are an employee or paid intern of an Indian company. In addition, those traveling to India for volunteer work with a Non-governemntental organization (NGO) must apply for an Employment visa. The Consulate may grant an Employment visa valid for up to one year irrespective of the duration of the contract. Further extension of up to 5 years may be obtained from MHA/FRRO in the concerned state in India. Spouse and dependent family members accompanying the applicant must apply for an Entry visa (NOT Tourist visa), co-terminus with the period of the principal visa holder. Please note the visa is valid beginning on the day it is issued. So a 6 Month visa issued on January 1 would be valid until June 30.

https://www.indian-visa.com/ for more details.