1月11日口譯文章：印度應實施綠卡軌制 India's impermanent residents
我有兩個同夥是一對在印度呆了15年以上的歐洲伉儷，他們的孩子也是在印度出身的。他們比來從德裏返回歐洲度假。他們願望在1月份黌舍再次開學前歸去。但他們不肯定可否可以或許歸去。
他們覺得疑惑的緣故原由在於，除歡慶假期之外，他們還不能不應答一點繁文縟節：他們要在印度當局所稱的他們的“故國”從新申請簽證，他們仍持有誰人國度的護照。
只管我的同夥們在印度生存了很長期，兩人中的丈夫還在德裏具有一家雇傭了12名印度專業人士的計劃公司，印度當局仍然請求他們每5年返回歐洲一次，以對他們居留印度的允許舉行從新評估。這是由於除經由過程和印度人娶親大概廢棄原有國籍入籍印度之外，沒有印度血統的外國人沒有在印度得到正當永遠居留權的路徑。
和以色列付與天下各地猶太人的“回歸權”很像，印度也對印度裔外籍人士洞開大門——只要他們本身大概他們的先人不是來自如今的巴基斯坦大概孟加拉國。
具有印度血統的外國人被視為“外洋印度國民”。只管沒法投票大概參選，但這些人無需廢棄本身的外國國籍就能夠無限日地在印度生存和事情。散居外洋的外僑被視為與故國“血脈相連”。
但沒有印度血統，也沒有和印度人娶親的外國人就沒法享受這類特權了——不管他們在這個國度居留了多長期，大概為了在印度樹立企業投資了若幹。歷久在印度居留的外國人遭到疑惑。他們的簽證附帶各式各樣不便利的前提——好比(持貿易簽證的人)必需每6個月分開印度，大概他們須要每一年或每5年返回“故國”從新申請簽證，每每文件請求另有變更。
“我不曉得本身還會不會許可被回到這個國度，”一名美國籍歷久居留者(這人具有一家印度企業已20年了)回想起比來一次回到美國辦簽證的末路人閱歷時說，“那是我平生中感到最糟的時刻。”
對非印度裔外國人而言，(除婚姻之外)獲得歷久居留權的獨一辦法是在居留印度7年後申請參加印度籍。然則，和奧地利、中國和挪威同樣，印度不許可兩重國籍，是以想要歸化入籍就必需廢棄本身本來的國籍。
很少有人樂意采用這一步，除極為少有的破例，好比前總理拉吉夫甘地(Rajiv Gandhi)的遺孀、意大利出身的國大黨主席索妮婭甘地(Sonia Gandhi)，和在比利時出身的有名經濟學家讓德雷茲(Jean Drèze)。
“在印度沒有折衷的方法，”一位官員告知我，“他們必需選取他們更愛哪一個國度。你不克不及說咱們愛印度，但咱們更愛英國。”
斟酌有很多印度國民沒必要廢棄原有國籍就得到了美國和英國的永遠居留權，如許的態度很譏諷。依據美國領土安全體(DHS)的數據，曩昔10年有60多萬印度國民得到了美國綠卡，可以無限日地在美國生存和事情，且不會落空他們的印度國民身份。2013年，英國付與了跨越2.6萬名印度國民無限日居留允許——相稱於永遠居留權。
但印度對居留印度的外國人就沒這麽迎接了。“你可以投資，然則沒有歷久保障，”我誰人能說印地語的歐洲同夥上周在辦理行李時埋怨道。
在印度具有一家獵頭公司的英國前交際官馬克拉納克斯(Mark Runacres)信任，印度當局的做法是曩昔閉關自定時代的遺留影響。“在他們眼中，外國人來印度只有一種情形，便是店主派他們來這裏的時刻，”拉納克斯說，“他們完整沒有從願望來印度創辦企業的外國商務人士的視角來斟酌題目。”
跟著印度追求將本身宣揚為一個充斥活氣和發明力的環球經濟中間，印度須要用一種更友愛的姿勢來迎接環球國民。
【參考譯文】
Friends of mine — a European couple who have been in India for more than 15 years, and whose two children were born here — recently left Delhi to go back to Europe for the holidays. They hope to return by the time school starts up again in January. But they aren’t so sure they will.
The reason for their doubt is that, along with celebrating the holidays, they have to deal with a bit of bureaucracy: reapplying for new visas back in what India’s government refers to as their “home country”, whose passports they still carry.
Despite my friends’ long tenure here, and the fact that the husband owns a Delhi-based design company employing 12 Indian professionals, New Delhi still requires them to return to Europe every five years for their permission to live in India to be reassessed. That is because there is no path to legal permanent residency for foreigners who are not of Indian ancestry, except through marriage or by giving up their original citizenship to become naturalised.
Much like Israel’s “right of return” for Jews around the world, India opens its doors to foreign nationals of ethnic Indian origins, provided neither they nor their ancestors come from what are now Pakistan or Bangladesh.
Foreigners of Indian ancestry are considered “Overseas Citizens of India”, allowed to live and work here indefinitely without giving up their foreign citizenship, although they cannot vote or run for office. The ethnic diaspora is seen as “umbilically connected” to the Motherland.
But foreigners who don’t have Indian blood and are not married to someone who has are not accorded such privileges, no matter how long they’ve been in the country, or how much they’ve invested in building a business. Long-term foreign residents are treated with suspicion. Their visas come with varying inconvenient conditions — such as having to leave the country every six months (for those on business visas), or returning to their “home country” annually or every five years to reapply, often with changing documentation requirements.
“I just had no idea if I was ever going to be allowed back in this country,” one long-term American resident, who has owned a business here for two decades, recalled after a vexing recent visa run to the US. “It was the worst feeling of my life.”
The only way for a non-ethnic Indian foreigner to obtain long-term residency rights (apart from marriage) is to become a naturalised Indian after seven years here. But — in common with other countries such as Austria, China and Norway — India does not permit dual nationality so they have to relinquish their original citizenship.
That is a step few want to take — with rare exceptions such as Italy-born Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi, widow of the former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, and prominent Belgium-born economist Jean Drèze.
“There is no halfway house in India,” one official told me. “They have to choose which country they love more. You can’t say we love India, but we love Britain more.”
Such a stand is ironic, given how many Indian citizens obtain legal permanent residency in the US and UK without having to give up their original citizenship. According to the US Department of Homeland Security, more than 600,000 Indian citizens in the past decade received green cards, which allow them to live and work in the US indefinitely, without forfeiting their Indian citizenship. In 2013, the UK granted indefinite leave to remain — essentially permanent residency — to more than 26,000 Indian citizens.
But India offers no such welcome to foreign residents. “You can invest, but there is no long-term security,” my European, Hindi-speaking friend griped while packing last week.
Mark Runacres, a former British diplomat who now owns an executive search firm in India, believes New Delhi’s approach is a legacy of its autarkic past. “As far as they were concerned, there was only one circumstance in which foreigners came and that was if their employers sent them,” Mr Runacres said. “They simply didn’t think in terms of foreign business people who wanted to come here and set up businesses.”
As India seeks to promote itself as a dynamic and creative global economic hub, it could do with a more welcoming approach to global citizens.
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