Mohandas Pai Applauds UAE's Move To Welcome Indians With US Visas
Tech industry veteran and former Infosys chief financial officer (CFO) Mohandas Pai welcomed United Arab Emirates' (UAE) decision to give visas on arrival to Indian nationals with US visas. The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs had circulated a letter to all authorities to grant Indians with US visa or green card to get UAE visa on arrival following a Cabinet decision last month. The visa will be valid for 14 days and the fee for an entry permit will be Dirham 100 (Rs 1,750).
The fee for one-time extension of the entry permit will be Dirham 250, according to the circular from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Mr Pai, who is currently the chairman of Manipal Global Education Services and Aarin Capital, has come out in strong support of India's IT industry ability to cope with tightened H-1B visa norms by the Trump administration in recent times, arguing that the US visa curbs could prove to be advantageous for Indian IT firms as they can shift more work to domestic locations and also be in a position to ask for higher billing rates.
Indian IT companies get about 60 per cent of their revenues from the US.
Mr Pai had tweeted in support of UAE's decision on Tuesday, tagging Sushma Swaraj, the Minister of External Affairs of India in the tweet. Ms Swaraj is known for her prompt responses and quick assistance when it comes to providing help to people reaching out to her on the micro-blogging site.
Officials at the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai confirmed that they will start implementing the order on May 1.
(With PTI inputs)
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