Horrible experience at Mumbai Airport. Successfull CP\'ers - Question about Immigration clearance at

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waitnwatch

Registered Users (C)
Hi all Successfull CP\'ers:

I have a question about immigration clearance at the Indian Airports. I was leaving from Mumbai and the Immigration officer made my life miserable by asking me for a PCC. He said I need a PCC as I am going away from this country (India) permanently. I tried to show him the PCC that I obtained from the local police station (actually from Commissioner\'s office), but he said no to that and asked for PCC on the passport. After about 20 minutes and showing my visa packet and passport to 2/3 other officers he started asking me that what should be done and that too he was smiling (I felt he wanted money for this !!!). I requested him to let me go and then after sometime he did let me go, but he literally made me feel that I am not boarding the flight.

So my question is, did you ever face this problem? Do you know of any such requirement of giving PCC or Income Tax clearance or something before immigrating to this country? I am talking about people who were in US on H1 and coming back after CP.

Please post your replies.
 
I had a similair experience

When I was going to India for vacation, they ragged me saying that a stamp was missing in my passport. It is all for money, I promised myself never to travel through Mumbai again.
Yeah, there may be rules that these things are based upon... but for sure all this is for money.
 
No Title

When I first left India in 1999 , i was warned about this by someone else .
I got a tax clearance certificate in Jan 1999 , I still have it , no one ever asked me for it .
I was told9back then ) if you are leaving the country for good , you will need this....

I m pretty sure the guy at sahar airport who harassed you probably just wanted money.

I m really sorry that you had to face this experience.
Our problem is that there are 1 billion of us.

I m glad that you made it here safely and now never have to look back.
You will not think twice before aquiring US citizienship now. Its at times like this that I m ashamed to say I m Indian. Instead of going out of the way to help our brothers we instead try to screw them.

This board is an exaample of what we can be. I am 3 weeks away from the GC ( I hope ) and this would have been impossible if it was not for you guys. Lets continue this networking , even after we get the GC\'s, I m sure its a win win situation.
 
Yes

Dear Friend!

Unfortunately, The answer is YES!. This happened 31/2 years ago. Me and my friend were coming to USA for the first time(We were coming on H1-B visa). My friend was standing right before me in the queue for immigration clearance. The office has seen his passport and realised that my friend has spent 2 months in Canada before, and probably smelled that he can squeeze some money from this guy...hence, at first he asked my friend for Income Tax clearance, which was produced promptly by my friend.Then, the officer has asked for the police clearance certificate, which my friend didn\'t have.

Then, after few minutes of explanation and make a plea to the officer, he demanded $100. The entire episode was happening right before my eyes, though I was standing 2 feet away from my friend, waiting for my turn to be called in. I knew that something is cooking over there, my friend has already spent more than 15 minutes at the officer, whereas every other earlier person got cleared in couple of minutes. I started worrying!

Meanwhile, my friend has informed the officer that he had only $50 cash, but if he could give the travellers cheque for $100, if that is OK for the officer... Then he started asking my friend all stupid questions like where does he live, what is his work place etc.,. After few minutes, he was let go!!!!.....

After he was cleared, I was called in. Trust me, I was so scared that I didn\'t know what to do...But luckily, he didn\'t ask me any questions at all. I had the IT clearance certificate, but he never asked for that.

What I feel is that the officer didn\'t take the Trav.Cheques because that will become a proof of bribe, in case the things go against him..and I guess that is the reason why he let my frined go.....

I can understand your feelings...These things are very sad. I know in first hand, one of my other relative who lives in Chicago paid $200.00 to the immigration office in Bombay, when he was coming first time to USA.
 
Complain...

I think I have said this too many times....please complain if you were HARASSED. By law, the officer can ask you for tax liability in India and maybe PCC. But at the same time, he/she should not harass you. Please complain to the customs director at Mumbai airport. Customs folks are under increased scrutiny since past 1-1.5 years and so you can expect something to happen.

It happened to me once...funnily not while leaving India but while entering India. I was going for wedding and did not have H1B stamp on my passport. My earlier F1 visa had expired. Thus I had no valid visa on my passport (I had H1 approval notice and I was planning to go to US consulate for the visa). The officer started asking me questions. Why the hell should he care about US visa validity? I told him the same and that I am entering my own country which is not a crime. I also told him that it is my responsibility to get US visa when I leave India and not when I enter. anyway, he found the H1 receipt (the one you get at the bottom of your approval notice) attached to my passport and saw the dates and let me go. But I was going to put up a fight. He CANNOT - for that reason - stop me from entering my own country. I did complain (as I had noted the name of the officer from his badge)...who knows what happened. But who knows something might have happened.
 
Just came from Mumbai with no problems

There may be a few bad apples out there. Also there is a customer service/complaint form on every immigration officer\'s table which you can take and mail.
 
Same thing with me in 1996

When I left India for the first time, the guy wouldnt let me board the flight. I had 100$ all in 10$ denominations and a couple of loose dollar bills. I told him I had only 23$ on me, that fellow took 3$ and let me through!
 
just maintain ur calm..

this has happened to many folks...no matter how prepared you go some guys will keep asking for something else...they are so pathetic.
All you can do is maintain ur calm and just keep telling them the same thing again and again, that you donot have PCC for any reason you can think of or you donot have the IT clearance for any reson you can think (like I kept telling that I have never worked in India and nobody is going to give me an IT clearance etc). After 10-15 minutes they will let you go.
how they look at it is like this: "saab jib aap tho America jaa rahe hai...thoda hum ko bi dekhe jayo"
 
Hi waitnwatch, Congratulations for your GC!

I am sorry to hear about your experience. This is indeed pathetic that they harrass people leaving the country. I have a question for you.
I have a PCC stamped in my passport (by the local Indian embassy). However I don\'t have Income tax clearance. I left the country 9 years ago before which I worked and paid taxes in India. Do you think I need to obtain the IT clearance? If so, what is the procedure?
Thanks and good luck!
 
Everyone & ud -

Hi Everyone :

Thanks for sharing your experiences ! I know its very bad of those guys to create problems, but it does make you feel helpless during that time.

The reason I had put this post is so that everyone else becomes aware of this and also, if there is such rule then I wanted to know it. My wife is coming back to US next week alone and so just wanted to check that if there is such a rule or not. I hope she gets through w/o problem !!!

Ud - I don\'t think you need IT since you have been living in US since past 9 years. But if it is not much problem, then apply for a clearance at the Income Tax Office near your city. Best way to get is through a Tax Consultant or an agent. The IT guys never give you w/o money, that\'s what I know. I never got one as I did not know of and I gave the same reason when asked by the Airline Officer at the time of check in.

Hope this helps.
 
No Title

I was also thinking of getting IT clearence certificate when I travelled back to US after my CP. But I didn\'t have time to get one. So I asked one of my friends who works in immigration section. He told me that, they won\'t care about this. Then I asked him to enquire with customs officials. Again he replied customs people are also not bothered about this.
So I didn\'t try to get the IT clearence and at Mumbai, I had nice conversation with one of the immigration officers. (May be he was one of the few nice people out there). So according to me IT clerence is not required and PCC is not in the picture if we are out of the country for some years. Why do they care?
 
we were asked for IT clearance

We had a sucessfull interview on 20 dec and left for mumbai on the 13 Jan. The Air France guy at Mumbai airport asked for IT clearance and said that we could not board the flight without it. We said we do not have it. He called another official and we were asked for how long we were there in India and we replied, for a month and then he let us go. This is the first time I am hearing this. Do we need to get an IT clearance every time we go to India and return??

cpgc
 
Thanks so much for the info!

I will definitely try to obtain IT - however, I will be in India only for 2 weeks and I don\'t know if that\'s enough time. Let\'s see....
Thanks again for sharing your experience buddy!
 
cpgc -

I think I was on the same flight as yours. I left Mumbai by Air France on 13th January. And I was also asked for IT by Air France lady and after arguing that I have been out of India for about 6 years, they let me go.
 
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