Deutschsprachiger Stammtisch in Chennai

Im August


Ueber die Sommermonate war ja nicht viel los, ausser dass alle weg waren. Jetzt ist der Sommer vorbei, Schule hat gestartet und es ist Zeit fuer den naechsten Umtrunk und einen Stammtisch mit vollzaehliger Besetzung. Besten Dank auch an all die jenigen, die im Juni und Juli fuer ein paar Bierchen Zeit gefunden haben und den Stammtisch weitergefuehrt haben.

Der naechste STAMMTISCH findet statt am,

17. August 2007 im

Raintree Hotel, Restaurant Upper Sea Level (Rooftop)

wie ueblich ab 19:30

Visa procedures

Everybody needs a visa entering India! Some of our smart colleagues have not been able to figures this out before they arrived at Indian airports after 30+ hours of travel from the US. And NO, visas for India are not available on arrival in India. If you don't have a visa you will be sent back usually with the plane you just arrived - NO EXCEPTIONS!

To get a visa for working and staying in India is rather easy in comparison to other countries. The government wants you to have the basic documents right and obviously you should have as well an invitation from your company ready to work in India.

This is some of the relevant information.“EMPLOYMENT VISA: Employment visas are initially issued for one-year stay. A copy of the contract with the employer has to be enclosed.Kindly note that Employment Visa is given only for jobs that require very high level of skills and expertise. This can be extended by Foreigners Regional Registration Office in India, if the job contract continues. Spouses and children are granted co-terminus entry visas on request.”http://www.indiacgny.org/php/showContent.php?linkid=23“General inquiries or supply of application forms: Please write orsend fax to Consulate General of India, 3 East 64th Street, New York,New York 10021. Tel. (212) 774-0600, (212) 774-0610, Fax (212)570-9581, E-mail: visa@indiacgny.org”http://www.indiacgny.org/php/showContent.php?linkid=21The Indian Embassy (details below), states that,“Note: Change of purpose is not permitted once you have reached India. Depending on the nature of your journey, apply for the correct visa category.”

After getting the visa in your home country you have to tell the Indian authorities within two weeks of arrival, that you are here and they issue a residence permit.

The FRRO in Chennai is really a great place. When you enter you first think, that tomorrow you will not be able to get out of there, but with all respect I have to say, that they are really efficient and I have never spent more than one hour in this place. It also seems to be the most unorganized place on earth with no organization around their paper work, but guess what, if they don't find something back in their files, they are really flexible. I have been there over and over again and I did not have a single bad experience. Great stuff.

Important to know is, that after one year the extension of the visa has to be approved by the Delhi office, which took me six months until completion. The Chennai FRRO office can provide twice an intermediary extension for three months, then it is over. I have taken the advise to go to Delhi and see what is going on there and I have never seen so much paper in so many different places. I thought to sort this out in one hour and they told me, that it takes around four hours to find out, if the application has only reached them - WOW. The good thing is, that if you have all paper with you (I did not!) you go there at 8 am in the morning and by 8 pm evening they promise you to walk away with a proper stay visa. I did not take this offer :) but hired a professional agency to whom I had to pay some money for getting the stuff done and it was sorted out pretty quickly.

Rather than applying to Delhi for the extension some expats choose to apply for a new visa back home and the procedure starts as if you would have come to the country the first time - this way is actually easier.

Last interesting story on visas and residence permit is for an expat child born in India.:

• The child only gets a visa/residence permit, if you have a valid one (logical)
• You need to apply for a passport in your home country before you can apply for the visa (logical)
• The child cannot apply for Indian nationality if born in India, as the nationality is given by blood and not place of birth
• The child will receive a visa in India, but only to exit the country (why is that?)
• Within six month of visa application you need to leave the country with the child and apply for a new visa in an Indian embassy where ever. Some people choose Singapore or KL if they are in a hurry or just travel back home (we did that)
• After coming back with the new visa (based on the parents allowance) you need to go to FRRO to apply for the residence permit again.

Nightlife in Chennai

Nightlife in Chennai is pretty boring, but as all aspects in life it has dramatically improved over the past two years. The opening hours got improved from midnight to 1:30!

Seems, that lot of the guys do not drink here and the other lots get really drunk, there is no in between. Social life for locals is mainly happening among your four walls at the most in a restaurant, means the crowd you find in Chennai's nightlife are rich kids, Indians brought up in the west and expats.

The nightlife is centered among the five star hotels and all of them have a kind of bar and maybe a disco club. Here some of the recommendations I can give

Park Sheraton: Has an old colonial style bar open until around midnight, but the place is really, really cold and you don't find a place where the aircon does not blow into your face. Good for conversations with friends in a traditional atmosphere (I prefer the bar in Taj Coromandel). Dublin: Great club, but as a man you are only allowed in with your couple. The guys at the door are pretty sharp. Closes around 1:30

The Park: Has a stylish bar called Leather Bar. You find more hype people there than in Park Sheraton and if you are lucky they let you into their disco club called Pasha. Same rule applies than in Dublin, but not that strictly executed. This place is good fun, best in Chennai, meets global standards only gets really really busy.

Residency Towers: Is the host of the only pub I know in Chennai, called Bikes and Barrels. Good for an Irish pub style of evening with beer and whiskeys. Gets very busy on weekends, good music. I found strange, that single men have to go to the first floor, where they can look out of a kind of cage environment of what is going on in the main area. Luckily does not apply to expats.

Raintree: Another club called Havanna - this is already number three! - which is open until around 1:30. Good crowd, good music. Less hype than Pasha and more of an Indian feeling.

Taj Coromandel: Has the most classy colonial style bar in Chennai called Fort St. George. I have actually rarely seen women in there and more a hang around place for grey haired business men.

Spot the places on the map

The list is not exhaustive and more can be found on Cityguide, Chennai Hub, Recommendations and Pubs