VK Singh lays down rider for visa on arrival
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, December 10 2018:
Union Minister of State for External Affairs Gen VK Singh has stated that if Myanmar Nationals visiting India must be given visa on arrival, the Government of Myanmar must reciprocate in the same.
On two-day visit to the State today, Gen VK Singh arrived here this afternoon.
Soon after arrival, Gen VK Singh went to the Imphal Passport Office at the Old Assembly complex and distributed passports to a few applicants.
He said that he came here to see whether the service provided by the Imphal Passport Office is satisfactory or not.
On being enquired about opening visa on arrival facility at Imphal, VK Singh said that it should be a bilateral arrangement between any two countries.
If visa on arrival facility is given to citizens of any other country, the country too should reciprocate in the same manner, asserted the Union Minister of State for External Affairs.
He said that some countries reciprocate and some others do not to the visa on arrival facility given by India.
The process of issuing passports has been simplified a lot and one can now apply online through smart phones.
It is the verification part which is taking time, he said.
Gen VK Singh was received at Imphal airport by Education Minister Th Radheshyam.
While the State Government has been lobbying with the Central Government to open visa on arrival facility at Imphal, similar facilities have been opened at Myanmar's Mandalay and Yangon airports but the same facility is still inaccessible to foreign Nationals visiting Myanmar through land routes.