VPDO Review for U.S. Scholars to India
PRIYANJANA: … the problem is because you will then have to go back extend your visa at the FRRO. So we will send you the paperwork with the calculation at the back of our mind that you can apply within two months. Once you get your visa, you send us a copy. We will in the meantime initiate your travel plans.
As you know, that all airlines have to adhere by the Fly America Act. So if you are booking the tickets on your own, you need to let us know and what we do is that we will let you know what should be your entitled fare if we would have booked the ticket for you. Once you book the ticket, you also however, before booking it, you have to share to get an approval from us about with your itinerary because we want to see that it adheres by the Fly America Act because it’s a non-negotiable for us. It has to be either Fly America Act or Air India.
Of course if you wanted to do any hop-overs, like many of you wanted to come over, stay in London or be a couple of days somewhere in Europe, that’s totally okay with us. You need to give us … If you want us to book those tickets, we can do that for you. Again we will pay you up to your entitled fare. And for any stop-overs or any additional plans, if there is additional cost involved, then you will have to bear that cost with you. But I just wanted to tell you USIEF is very flexible with all travel plans. We want to help you as much as possible.
We will book you in a way that you will have to come through in one of the cities, as I said, where USIEF has an office. If you are coming … If you are planning to book the tickets on your own, please keep in mind that you have to check with us that which is the city where you should be coming in first for your briefing, then moving over to your host city. That’s a policy we will have to adhere by.
Allowances: so your stipend is all paid in dollars, as you know. And they are wired to your designated bank account, which you informed us about. We can absorb wire transfer charges up to $15. You need to just show us proof or receipt or something that shows you have been charged for wire transfer, and we will take care of that. And as you know that you have your base stipend and there is your monthly stipend. So your base stipend will actually be paid in lump sum in two parts. So if you are supposedly in a six-month grant, three months would be paid at the beginning, before you come to India, and the rest of the three months would be paid at the end. Your monthly stipend however will be paid every two months, so that’s our funding cycle. What we also do is that before you come to India, when we share the air tickets with you, we also share with you something we call the schedule of payment. You will very clearly know when to expect payment from us and how much that amount will be.
Dependents: Again, as you know that all … that USIEF will pay for dependent allowance, for travel allowance up to two dependents. They have to be on entry visa, I have said before. And we will provide you with maintenance allowance of $200, up to three dependents.
For Flex Scholars, please keep it in mind that we do not cover air tickets. We only cover air tickets for the Flex Scholar himself or herself for two round-trip tickets to India. But we do pay for the maintenance allowance for $200 for up to two dependents.
Housing: So if you are coming … for example, if your host city is Delhi, we will provide for up to seven nights in Delhi, which is your city of affiliation. And in the meantime, we will help you with the housing. We will connect you to realtors. And this is in case of all the other cities where USIEF has an office. In case you are, for example, going to Mysore in Karnataka, you will have to first fly into Chennai for your briefing. We will arrange for your accommodation up to two nights in the city of briefing, and then we will fly out to your city of affiliation where you will be provided another seven days of accommodation, initial accommodation. But please keep it in mind that we can only provide you with initial accommodation. If you however do not want avail this, but want to avail at the end of your grant, we will not be able to take those requests in.
USIEF will also of course talk to your host institutions, we will be asking them for help with your housing. You are also more than welcome to reach out to your host institutions to see, explore housing, if they have housing in the campus. Many of the scholars do live in the campus, or they would live near by.
Usually also they have … We have the brokerage fee reimbursement that we provide up to $600. And it’s only for one time. So you can hold onto that receipt; send it to us; and we can reimburse you for that.
Facilitation is a service that USIEF again provides. This is a young person who could be attached with your college, with your institution where you are going, and will be a person who help you basically settle down in the city. So if you want to avail the support of a facilitator, you need to let USIEF know. USIEF picks up the cost. That’s for five days only, but this young person will take you around, show you the marketplace, tell you how to get on a metro for example, help you with the phone connection. So just an initial … initially somebody will help you to take care of ironing out some of the issues that you might come up in a new city.
This is a big one, the registration in India as you know that if you are coming on a research visa, most of the time there will be an endorsement on the visa, which will say that you need to be registered within 14 days. However, if there is no endorsement and the visa is valid for more than six months, you will still need to get registered within 14 days.
The reason that we want to talk a little bit about this is because if you are planning to travel to India and not immediately start research or your work in your host institute and if you are coming on a research visa, that’s a strict no-no because you have to reach your host city within first 14 days. There’s a little bit of paperwork you need to pick-up from your host institute. USIEF will provide you with the paperwork also from our end. And then within 14 days, you have to report to the Foreign Registration Office at your place of registration. And also you have to understand that the process of registration will vary, the process more or less. We will help you as much as possible. But also ever year, every minute things change. So it is a frustrating process, I should say. But given how some of you experienced a little bit of Indian bureaucracy with XXXX, you would be more prepared with the registration process I believe. But not the easiest process, as I am repeating myself again. Something that we have to get it done. And USIEF will of course help you with this process.
There is also some of you, you will see that your visa will not extend the whole time. So there is a visa extension process, which is there, which also has to be done through FRRO. Of course USIEF will provide you with the paperwork if that … if that happens, if that situation comes up. But most of the time the visa stays valid throughout the duration of the grant.
If of course you have a project clearance, you have an OCI or PIO card, you do not need to register in India.
The other place that we will tell you to register is once you arrive in India. It’s with the U.S. Embassy on the STEP program. It’s a really important website that you need to be connected with because they send you a lot. They tell you if there is an emergency in the country. They get to know who all are in India from the U.S. So it’s a good way to stay connected with the U.S. Embassy in your region.
Well as I said, I don’t want to repeat myself. FRRO, you have to register within 14 days if the visa is valid for more than 180 days. If the visa is valid for less than 180 days but it comes with an endorsement say it says oh you have to get registered within 14 days, you still have to end up going to the FRRO office.
Some of the smaller cities may not have an FRRO office. They might have to report to a police station, or to the police, to a smaller office. So we will guide you through that process. But the metros all have these foreign registration offices.
A little bit about the health and safety: Please familiarize yourself with the State Department policy. There is the website over there. Also at the same time, as we said, please enroll with the STEP program.
As Fulbright-Nehru grantees you are required to attend the mandatory in-person briefing. And it has to happen within 24 hours. I know that some of you have families in your cities where you are going, and you may not be free initially, but you have to have you report to a USIEF office within 24 hours.
Also the moment you pick up an Indian phone number, please let us know. We like to stay connected with you at all time. And we want to, in case there is an emergency, god forbid, we usually keep calling. We will check on you. So we will immediately update the phone tree.
I little bit more on the the health and safety issues: we also have, we will share with you something which is called a pocket booklet. I actually have that right now. This has all emergency contacts of USIEF staff, as well as hospitals. So it’s a really important booklet to hold onto in case you are travelling or you are sick or something, god forbid has happened.
You also have to inform USIEF in case you are travelling outside of your city of affiliation. So we are okay if you are doing weekend trips, but if you are traveling say for research say for a good 15 days or so, please just drop us an email to keep us informed.
You have 14 days of entitled personal leave, which is leave with pay. And that’s leave where you can go out of the country. For that, you need to take prior permission from us. So drop me an email, and I would respond back immediately, saying that if it’s okay or not for you to travel. The reason why we need … want to give you prior … The reason that we want to you to ask us for leave is that at times there’ve been instances where people, grantees have wanted to go to places that are not really safe, and we’ve checked with the U.S. Embassy, and they’ve said that it’s not a safe place to go right now. For example during the Nepal earthquakes and Bangladesh also. So we just want be … we want to stay involved, and know where you are, and tell you whether it’s going to be a safe place or not.
Jammu and Kashmir is a strict no-no. Please do not travel to Jammu & Kashmir. But you are allowed to travel by air up to Leh in Ladakh.
And if you have any questions about immunizations, I’m getting a lot of questions about … USIEF is not in a position to give you medical advice. We would recommend you either look up the CDC website and also CIES has a medical site over there. Or we would recommend you talk to your local doctor.
Well a little bit about the reporting requirements. USIEF, we just require the final report. We will send across those formats to you a month before you wrap up your grant. CIES will send you an online link for a mid-term report if your grant is for more than four months. And it will also send you an online port for a final report. Please keep in mind that your final reports to USIEF and CIES are very important for you to get your excess baggage allowance. We do not need, require any receipts for excess baggage allowance. We just require your final reports at the end of your grant, and we will immediately release the excess baggage allowance.
Taxes: That’s also going to be a question that will come up over the months that you are in India. USIEF is not a position to help you, advise you on taxes. We would recommend please talk to your charted accounted or your tax consultant. There is also section on Fulbright to India Handbook on taxes. You may want to look through that. But just in a nutshell, no taxes are withheld from these grants. We don’t deduct any taxes, but you should refer to your grant authorization document because it very clearly says how much will your stipend be when you are trying to do your taxes.
I think we’ve gone over this a little bit. So as I said, international travel, 14 days. For Flex Scholars, please keep in mind that it’s only seven days of international travel for you across the two grant phases that you will be in India. The 14 days will also include South and Central Asia travel program. As you know that we have this program where you can go to a South and Central Asian country. You basically need to write to us and tell us that some country has asked you to, has invited you. So you need to show us a letter of support, and we will fund your travel. It’s up to 14 days you can travel to another country, but please keep in mind that it’s part of your allotted 14 days of international travel that you can use in order to avail that.
The other question that usually comes up to us is about traveling within the country for research or if you are invited for talks and lectures. USIEF does not have the funds at their disposal to take care of those expenses. But we expect the grantee to use their stipend in order to take care of such kinds of expenses.
If you are traveling outside of India, within the 14, allotted 14 days, your stipend will be paid. But your medical benefit will be suspended during that time because your medical benefit is only for when you are in India.
And please keep in mind that international travel will not be allowed at the end of your grant.
So who is your contact person? I know that there have been a lot of questions that keep coming back and forth. And you’re not very sure who you need to talk to. As I said, for medical clearance, it’s going to be CIES for you. For anything else, be it the visa, be it an affiliation question, be it grant-related, you need to write to us. I’ll be your point of contact, but I’m sure you’ve been talking to my colleagues. So please feel free to copy them on those emails.
In case of local issues, once you go and settle down in your city of affiliation, there will also be a USIEF contact will be the USIEF office colleagues of mine. So in Chennai, Maya is our representative. In Hyderabad, Piya. In Kolkata, Shevanti. In Mumbai, Ryan. And we will introduce you to them before you come to India. So we copy them on our emails, and we … and you will get to meet them of course when they will brief you.
And the last thing is about the Google Group and blogging. We are very excited about the blog. We have started a blog post, and our students and our senior scholars have been blogging for us. So please hold on to very good photos. We also like action photos, where you are there doing … taking a class or doing research, and please send those across to us. And we have a Google Group we set up right after the PDO where all, the entire cohort of 2016-17 people will be connected. And it’s an extremely important resource to hold on to because it’s a platform where you can ask questions to each other. There are people who have been to India several times. There are people who are completely new to India. So it’s a great sharing platform. We will send you an invitation soon.
And just the last bit, I think. We talked about this, but I just want to reiterate, please stay connected with us. Please share your cell phone number. We are always there, available 24-7. If anything happens, just give us a call. And you will of course keep us informed where you are, because it’s really important, especially … I just remembered we had an earthquake, a couple of months back, and immediately I could call and get connected to all my grantees because I knew exactly where they are. So just stay in touch with us.
And that’s the team! You’ve probably heard from all of us. We’re very excited to welcome you all, again. And we hope your visa process runs smoothly, and you’re able to come to India very soon.
Thank you so much. Jillian, over to you.
JILLIAN: Hi. Thank you, Priyanjana. So I’ll go ahead and start asking some of the questions that the grantees were asking in the chat box during the presentation.
So one of them is, are OCI holders also required to register?
PRIYANJANA: No, as I said, the OCI cardholders and PIO cardholders do not need to register in India.
JILLIAN: Then, again, if travel outside the country takes place. Sorry, if travel within the country takes place, for research or something else, do they need permission? And how does that work in terms of the 14 days of leave? So for example, if someone had two different research sites, would that counted against their 14 days, if they were outside of their host city?
PRIYANJANA: So 14 days of leave is only for out-of-country. So any travel within the country, we do not have a cap on that. Since we know we are very flexible with the senior scholars, so we know that you will be researching. You will be traveling. And you need not … It need not be within 14 days. It can be any number of days. You just need to inform us about it. You don’t even need prior permission. It’s only 14 days for outside country, and you need to take prior permission for that.
JILLIAN: And with settling in, are the grantees able to recommend a city facilitator, if they have someone in mind?
PRIYANJANA: Yeah, absolutely. What we would recommend, if you already know somebody who might be a good facilitator, please let us know. So that we also would also like to talk to this person, since we like to vet these people before they facilitate any of our scholars. So just let us know so we can meet up with them before the arrival.
JILLIAN: And when should … Sorry, quick fire, trying to get as many through as I can. And when should grantees expect to receive their certificate of affiliation?
PRIYANJANA: So as I said, two months prior to their arrival to India, they should apply for their visa. So we usually shoot for about two-and-a-half or three months before they are supposed to come to India. We will send across their certificate of affiliation grant document and visa support letter.
JILLIAN: Thank you. And when you said that travel couldn’t take place at the end of the grant, does that mean that travel can’t take place and receive your stipend? Or does that mean that after your grant ends, grantees are not permitted to have personal travel outside of India?
PRIYANJANA: What I basically meant was that after your grant is ended you can travel. If your visa is valid within India, you can totally travel. Of course if you are traveling outside of India, you don’t need a visa. If you are planning to travel, say for example, some of you would like to travel outside of V---- Island. If you come to us and say that we want to do it at the end of the last week, we will not be able to accommodate such kinds of requests.
JILLIAN: Thank you. And if someone received a different kind of visa, be it a tourist visa or a business visa, that’s still valid, would they still need to apply for a research visa for the Fulbright-Nehru Program? Or could they travel to India on their previously received business visa?
PRIYANJANA: No, they can’t. It’s a non-negotiable for us. It’s only research visa or bust.
JILLIAN: And if I can add something to that. That isn’t only a USIEF decision. That’s also an agreement that the U.S. Government and the Government of India have made as well. And it deals with reciprocity, the kind of visas Indians have when they come to the United States for the Fulbright-Nehru Program as well. Just a little caveat as well.
How are expenses for children’s schooling paid? Is it reimbursable? Or will they receive funding up front?
PRIYANJANA: It’s reimbursable. You need to send us the receipts for it, and we will cover up to a certain about that should be mentioned in your grant documents.
JILLIAN: And if there are any allowances for in-country guest lecturers? Can they submit a request to have a portion covered if they have been invited and it’s not part of the regional travel program? Or is that something they would be expected to cover from their monthly allowance?
PRIYANJANA: They would be expected to cover from their monthly allowances. We do not have any funds for in-country travel.
JILLIAN: And is there a restriction on … Is there a restriction on the age of dependents?
PRIYANJANA: Jillian, do you want to take that question?
JILLIAN: Sure, yeah, so there isn’t a restriction. We ask that you self-identify who the dependents are. Typically it’s someone you would claim on your taxes, though we don’t ask for proof that you’ve claimed them on your taxes. Most of the time that is children and partners/spouses. Occasionally we’ll have a situation where someone has a brother or another family member they are personally responsible for and they, kind of, claim on taxes, and they are dependent when they are in the United States. And it’s, kind of, treated on a case-by-case basis, depending on what the stipend … I’m sorry, what… who would be classified as a dependent in that case. But most of the time it will be children who are school-aged or who you would claim on your taxes in the United States. When you are going to apply for your visa … it was just at the embassy yesterday, discussing this ... when you are going to apply for your visa and your dependents are applying for their visa, consular officers will also have some guidance and some questions they will ask you to submit with that. So USIEF will work with you in making sure you have that. It’s pretty much making sure you have your grant document listing your dependents on it. But if you have any questions about who qualifies for dependent and dependent support and stipend and all of that, reach out to USIEF because it is a little bit of a case-by-case basis. But generally it’s children and partners.
PRIYANJANA: Thanks, Jillian.
JILLIAN: Sure. Can spouses work in the host country during the Fulbright?
PRIYANJANA: No, so I think the X-visa, which is the entry visa, spouses are not allowed to work on that visa, but they can volunteer their time with the NGOs, which many of the dependents do.
JILLIAN: And someone read on the website that grantees can apply for a grant extension. When can you do that? And can you explain that process a little bit?
PRIYANJANA: Sure, so the grant extension is a no-cost extension. So your stipend will not be paid during that time. But your medical benefit will be extended. It’s only for one month, and you need to give us … you need to write to us two months prior to the end of your grant that, the reason why you are, why you want to send you grant. Also if it requires that your visa has to be extended, USIEF can provide you with that paperwork in order to extend your visa. But we are also, we will need your host institute to support you in case there is a grant extension. They should give us a letter of support at the same time.
JILLIAN: Thank you. And a question about cell phone in India, in that it normally requires proof of residency. Would local contacts help the grantees to go through that process and obtain a cell phone in-country?
PRIYANJANA: Yeah, I think our scholars have had, they’ve been okay with getting cell phone connections. It’s actually not that difficult. Usually, also academic coordinators at the institutes will help them. Of course if you are in a USIEF office, regional office, then we will of course help you get your cell phone connections. But the moment you also get your FRRO done, that itself proves as a residency proof, and so you will easily get your cell phone connections.
JILLIAN: Thank you. And a question about the ASPE health benefits. Do they need to sign-up for ASPE health benefits? Or is it something that is done automatically by USIEF/CIES on their behalf?
PRIYANJANA: So we do it. And it will be done automatically. When you come in for your briefing we will hand you the ASPE medical card. And that’s only for the grantees again, not for the dependents.
JILLIAN: And for Flex grantees, do they need to obtain two separate visas for both parts of their grant? Or will they be able to obtain one long, one kind of, multiple entry visa?
PRIYANJANA: So what usually happens is a visa might be valid for six months or one year. Because a Flex grantee can come to India over two years, most of the time they have to apply for a second visa if the visa does not stay valid. So we have paperwork ready for you for both the visas. It’s good if you want to come really close for two phases, that’s great. Otherwise we will help you to apply for your visa. But just a heads up that in most cases you do have to apply a second time for your visa. And also get registered for a second time in India.
JILLIAN: Thank you. And then it looks like we are receiving a couple questions about affiliations. How to make sure that the affiliation is secured. And also their affiliation and, kind of, their host city in India in relations to where they’ll be doing their research. So would you recommend that they… if they have kind of a specific question about their affiliation and location, that they should reach out to you individually about that? Or is there kind of general guidance we can supply?
PRIYANJANA: Sure. Sure, depending on the question Jillian, if these are specific affiliation questions then it would make sense for the scholar to write directly to me and I can take those up later.
JILLIAN: Great, thank you. Then how early should the medical clearance … I’m sorry, the medical examination take place in order to obtain clearance prior to travel in India? Is it valid only for a certain amount of time?
PRIYANJANA: Well the medical clearance would be a certificate issued by CIES and would be valid for the entire time. How soon you should apply? I would say that I can check with CIES but you can always drop an email to Catherine Matto and check with them. But usually our scholars start working on the medical clearance at least a couple of months before they are planning to apply. So I would say that the same time you are applying for your visa, you should also start working on your medical clearance.
JILLIAN: So your … I can take this. So your medical form is valid for six months prior to your grant start date. So you need to make sure you are within that six-month window. So for example, if you have a March start, you wouldn’t want to do your medical examination now because the date of your medical examination cannot be more than six months before your grant start date.
And then one other thing I wanted to mention about travel outside of the country, in addition to what Priyanjana said about USIEF needs to be able to verify that the location is safe and they work with the U.S. Embassy in order to do so, USIEF is also responsible for knowing where the grantees are at all times. So even a location that you might think is safe, and there would not be an issue there, if there was a natural disaster happened or something else, USIEF needs to know where their grantees are at all times to be able, as Priyanjana said to be able to make sure that you are safe. So it’s not only about whether or not you would view something as being safe, but it’s also just making sure that USIEF knows the location of the grantees in case something were to happen. Because we need to be able to very quickly verify that everyone is safe and accounted for.