We demand that the Indian Government grant visas to the 2500 Afghan students enrolled in Indian universities to continue their education and complete their courses in the offline mode.

The more than 2500 students holding the SII or ICCR Scholarship and self-financed students have partly completed their degree programs in the online mode. Now that the Covid-19 lockdown has been lifted, they need to be able to travel to India to attend their classes in person and complete their courses of study.

Although the Indian Government, in August of 2021, announced a new category of electronic visa called “e-Emergency X-Misc Visa" to fast-track Afghan visa applications and all the students accordingly applied for the electronic visa, reportedly, only 200 e-Emergency X-Misc-Visa applicants have been granted visas.

Now, because so much effort and thinking go into choosing a course of study, applying for it, getting admission at a university, and working out one's time and finances - if these students are not granted visas soon and allowed to continue their partly completed degree programs, they will never recover from the subsequent emotional and financial distress, disabling them to live decent lives.

We request the Indian Government to -- for the long-standing friendly people-to-people and cultural connect, good neighborliness, and for humanitarian reasons -- expedite issuance of visas to the more than 2500 Afghan students of Indian universities desperate to continue and complete our studies.

Wani, A. (2022, May 05). Afghan students protest outside Indian Embassy in Kabul against delay in receiving e-visas. India Today. Retrieved from here

Gupta, K. (2022, March 07). Driven Home By Covid, Stranded During Taliban Takeover, Hundreds Of Afghan Students Await Return to India. Retrieved from here

Dharamshi, C. (2022, May 16). Lack of online classes, denial of visas add to woes of Afghan students under Taliban regime. Retrieved from here