Learning India

Making sense of the subcontinent

Filed Under: Be Prepared

NRI PIO OCI – What’s the difference?

NRI PIO OCI

*This article has been updated to reflect the removal of the PIO status as of 9 January 2015. If you currently hold a PIO card, it will be treated as an OCI card. Updates are marked in blue.

 

For many Indians, moving out of India is a symbol of status. It is a matter of pride for a family to be able to say their son is working in the US and their daughter is in Dubai.

However, Indians who live abroad also work very hard at maintaining a strong connection to India.

This creates trouble for the Indian government in figuring out how to deal with the more than 22 million Indians living in another country. What about land ownership? Voting? Taxation? While many have renounced their Indian citizenship, they still want to be active in India.

There are three terms you should be familiar with that categorize Indians who live abroad: NRI, PIO, and OCI.

 

The Short Version

NRIs (Non-Resident Indians) are Indian Citizens who live in another country.

PIO (Person of Indian Origin) used to be a 15 year visa for non-Indian citizens, but it has since been removed.

OCIs (Overseas Citizen of India) are non-Indian citizens who have a lifetime visa to live and work in India with fewer restrictions.

 

The Long Version

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Be Prepared

Filling Out Your Online Indian Visa Application

Visa Application Form

 

After you choose the right visa, the first thing you must do is complete the online Indian Visa Application form. If this is your first interaction with the government of India, you should refresh yourself on How to Please the Babu. This will get you in the right frame of mind.

The form seems easy enough, but a simple mistake can lead to your application being rejected, which means you lose your application fee, and you have to start the process over again! So, it’s best to get it right the first time.

 

Before you begin

Two things to remember:

1) Filling out the Indian Visa Application form online does not mean you have submitted it. The purpose of the online form is to make sure you have filled in all the correct information in the right format for easier processing. If you make a mistake, you can start over and it will not affect your application. No one is looking through all this data and cross-checking it. The only form that matters is the one you print out when you finish.

2) You may not alter the application after you print it. This includes handwriting answers. Once you print it out, if you want to make any change at all, you must start the application form over again.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Be Prepared

Comprehensive Guide to Indian Visas

Indian Visa Udo

When you are searching for the right Indian visa, it is easy to get overwhelmed.

Everyone seems to say something different, and you may feel the need to hire an immigration lawyer just to make sure you don’t get arrested for filming a family video at the Taj Mahal.

Here’s an easy-to-understand comprehensive guide for you, covering all the visas for India. [Read more…]

Filed Under: #IndiasNotIndia, #ThinSkinned, Cultural Adaptation

Why You Should Embrace Cultural Generalizations, Not Stereotypes

Generalizations Mongo Gushi

Everyone loves to hate generalizations. In fact, they might be the easiest target for the cross-cultural police, who think everyone is the same (deep down), and everyone is unique (deep down).

This kind of thinking might work in some cultures, but won’t last five minutes in India. As soon as you get here, you start making generalizations because it is so “other”, and you don’t have a mental category for what you are experiencing.

But in a country filled with so many sensitive paradoxes, nothing will get you into trouble faster than making a blanket generalization (#Thinskinned).

This is the tension you face as you try to make sense of the new world you are working/living with. What are you allowed to say? What is true? Don’t all generalizations break down anyway? Should we just abandon them altogether?

No. Generalizations have a lot to offer us.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Cultural Adaptation

Can You Try to Fit In Too Much?

Going too far india lungi dress

There comes a point when you have to decide who you are.

Are you a Frenchman temporarily living in Mumbai? Or are you an Indian who happens to have roots in France?

How far do you let your new culture impact your life? Do you simply wear kurtas around the house? Do you decide only to eat Indian food? How much of their mindset will you adopt? Do you go beyond understanding hierarchy to actually participating in and leveraging it?

How strongly should you hold on to your home culture? When is it appropriate to be your “normal Australian self”, and when are you being culturally insensitive?

Everyone must answer these questions individually, but the answer might be, “it depends.”

In an article I submitted to InterNations Magazine, I examined some times when it is better to adopt the new culture and when it is best to stay the same.

You can read the article here: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3.

 

For those living abroad, or preparing for a move, InterNations can be a great resource. It is a vibrant, informal network of expats around the world. No matter where you are going, you are likely to find some events where you can meet like-minded people. They also have some really good, quality information on their website for those needing a global perspective.

 

Photo Credit: Prince Roy on Flickr

 

 

Filed Under: #CustomerIsAlwaysThere, Transportation

Airport Fun

Fancy new airports seem to spring up about every month in India. While a lot of the new amenities are really nice, there are still a few things to iron out.

Here are two of my favorite shots from some recent travels.

This first one is for a water fountain. I’m glad they gave plenty of options for where to press the button, but I’m doubtful how effective each of them are.

Airport Fun
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Cultural Adaptation

Put Your Value Ranking Skills to Work!

Value ranking applied js42

Let’s review what we’ve learned about value rankings:

  1. Values are ideals we align ourselves to, not behaviors we practice
  2. All values are good
  3. All values are ranked
  4. Value ranking determines decisions and behaviors

All this is great theory, but how does it actually help you? It’s nice to analyze a situation, but what if you are right in the middle of it?

Let’s walk through a step-by-step process with two examples: one from professional life and one from personal life.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: #GreyIsWhite, Cultural Adaptation

Value Rankings, #GreyIsWhite, and Anne Frank

Value Ranking Anne Frank

Is this moral dilemma familiar to you?

You are a simple citizen living in Nazi Germany, and you are hiding some Jews in your home. The SS comes to your house, and asks if you are housing any Jews. What do you say?

The dilemma, of course, is that if you say “no”, you are lying, and everyone knows that lying is wrong. However, your hideaways are safe.

If you say “yes”, you can pat yourself on the back for upholding honesty, and then watch the troops escort the Jews out of your house to their fate.

We struggle to find the best way out of this situation. How can you maintain the value of honesty while allowing people to walk to their doom? In my culture, our best response to this dilemma was usually answering honestly, and then hoping the Jewish families would miraculously not be found. Pretty lame, looking back on it.

The interesting thing is that this is only a dilemma for some people. It perplexes universalists and people who don’t accept that value ranking is a natural part of how we behave. Everyone else is trying to figure out where the actual dilemma is. [Read more…]

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© Neil A. Miller, LearningIndia.in, and Madras Media Marketing LLC 2013-2015. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given.