Yemeni student to be given 3-month visa extension: HC told

The Centre today told the Delhi High Court it has been decided to grant a three-month provisional visa extension to a Yemeni student who is claiming refugee status and seeking that he be not deported to his country as his life is under threat there.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Foreigner Regional Registration Office (FRRO) said the student was released from a detention centre at Lampur in Narela here on January 27 and his provisional visa would be extended for three months to facilitate his stay for seeking admission in a Ph.D programme of Delhi University.
MHA and FRRO said that if he gets admission he shall be granted regular visa extension. However, if he fails to get into the Ph.D programme of the varsity, he would be asked to exit the country.

The submissions were made in an affidavit placed before Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva who listed the matter for further hearing on March 20.
In its affidavit, filed through central government standing counsel Rajesh Gogna, the government has said the Yemeni student was kept in the detention centre to restrict his movements till arrangements were made for deporting him as "there was every likelihood that the petitioner might go underground".
The government has claimed that he was doing various courses from here to prolong his stay in India as he did not want to return to his country.

It also contended that the request of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for granting him long- term visa cannot be considered as 35 Yemeni nationals arrived in India after January 2015 when the crisis in Yemen erupted and 26 out of them have already left.

"So contention of the petitioner does not hold true," it said.
The petitioner, in his plea filed through advocate Gunjan Singh, has contended that he is a Sunni Arab and his community has been targeted by Houthi rebels and other non-state actors such as al-Qaeda and the government there.
According to his plea, he had a valid visa till October 31, 2016 and under the garb of extending it, he was kept at the detention centre at Lampur Sewa Sadan here.
The Yemeni student had arrived in India in 2013 for studies and has done a post-graduate course in commerce from Pune University, the petition said and added that he has been given 'refugee' status by UNHCR and should not be deported.