NFIA Hosts Session On Visa Issues With Indian Consulate, NY

- ADVERTISEMENT -

The National Federation of Indian American Associations (NFIA) held a virtual interactive zoom meeting on Thursday, April 29, 2021 with the Indian Consulate in New York, NY.

Topics focused on clarifying changes/issues relating to OCI, emergency visa issuance and other related travel guidelines, and approximately 280 participants from all over the United States participated, a press release from NFIA said.

This effort was initiated and organized by NFIA’s Regional Vice President Gunjan Rastogi. It was necessitated by concerned Indian-Americans and others to wanting to hold another session with the Indian consulate to better understand the OCI changes/issues.

The Consulate was represented by Deputy Consul General  Shatrughna Sinha and Consul Murugesan Ramaswamy.

The meeting kicked off with a welcome address by Gunjan Rastogi, followed by a moment of silence in honor of  COVID-19 victims in India.

President of NFIA, Ajoy Dube, made introductory remarks.

The Consulate representatives explained the topics on the agenda for the first hour which was followed by a Q&A session moderated by Mukesh Modi and Nilima Madan of New York.

Several NFIA members attended, among them, NFIA past presidents Subash Razdan, Sudip Gorakhshakar, Dr. Thomas Abraham and Angela Anand, as well as NFIA Board members Raj Razdan, Dr. Hari Har Singh, Dr. Satish Mishra, Sunny Gabhawala, Aparna Hande, Prashanthi Harathi, Kamini Khare and Ashok Patnaik.

Rastogi also recognized the presidents of the 13 supporting organizations who participated in the event: NIAASC, RANA, UPANY, Kerala Center, World Vegan Vision, India Home, Indian American Action Group, Metropolitan Asian Family Services, Navika Group of companies, Senior Community Center of Vaishnav Temple, Indo-American Senior Citizens NY, A. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility and IALI.

At conclusion, the Deputy Consul General encouraged the viewers to keep sending any unanswered questions to the Indian Consulate, the press release said.

The NFIA was formed in New York in 1980, and according to the press release, is the largest Indian American national umbrella organization looking after the interest of the community and also promoting U.S.-India Relations.