Man moves HC for removing Ukrainian wife's name from visa blacklist

A man has moved the Delhi High Court seeking direction to the Centre to remove the name of his wife, a Ukrainian national, from the blacklist to enable her to apply for a spouse visa to stay in India.

The man claimed the Foreigner Regional Registration Office (FRRO) has blacklisted his wife without giving any reason from granting visa, which, he said, violated his rights to enjoy his marital life and fundamental rights.

According to the plea, the woman is presently staying in Nepal as the couple was told by FRRO officials that it would be easier for them to get a spouse visa from a neighbouring country.

Justice Rajiv Shakdher issued notices to the Centre and the FRRO and sought their responses on the plea. The court listed the matter for further hearing on April 24.

Advocate Manish Tiwari, appearing for petitioner Abhay Khanna, said the man's wife Olga Khmelevska was not a threat to the security of the country and she has no criminal record.

The Central government's standing counsel Ajay Digpaul said he will file a detailed reply to the petition and as per the procedure, the man should first give a representation to the Ministry of Home Affairs which will decide it on the basis of facts of the case. He also said the foreigner woman has overstayed in India twice.

Khanna's counsel submitted before the court that his wife has been to India several times on tourist visa and they got married in December 2017 in India after which she applied for a spouse visa.

Instead of a spouse visa, the woman was given an exit permit on January 17 this year, he said.

The counsel said the woman's tourist visa expired on October 13, 2016 but due to an illness she was unable to travel out of India and she obtained an exit permit from the authorities and left for Ukraine in November 2016.

She again came to India after obtaining a tourist visa which was expired on May 23, 2017, but she could not travel as she was unwell and applied for an exit permit on May 31 last year, the plea said.

It added that despite repeated enquiries, the application for exit permit was not processed by the authorities and when she applied for a spouse visa, she was instead given an exit permit in February this year and was told that she has been blacklisted.

The plea said she was the one who used to take care of her mother-in-law, a cancer patient.