India on Thursday announced that issuance of paper visas stapled to the passports by the Embassy of China and its consulates in India would not be considered valid for travel out of the country.
In a statement here, the Ministry of External Affairs said it has come to the attention of the government that the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in New Delhi and the Chinese Consulates in Mumbai and Kolkata were issuing visas on a separate piece of paper “stapled” to the passport (rather than “pasted” as is the usual practice), to certain categories of Indian nationals on the basis of their domicile, ethnicity and or place of issue of the passport.
“Such paper visas stapled to the passport are not considered valid for travel out of the country,” the statement said cautioning all Indian citizens to ascertain from the Chinese missions in India whether the visa would be affixed to the passport or a stapled paper visa to avoid any inconvenience and financial loss on this count.
As reported by The Hindu earlier, the issue came to light when the Chinese Embassy here issued stapled paper visa to the people from Jammu and Kashmir.
