Pak-born toddler reaches home in India on a visa

Nagpur: Ten-month-old Riyansh, who met his father Kailash Udasi for the first time last week, entered the country as a foreign citizen, requiring a visa to reach his father’s home at Jalgaon.
Riyansh, whose story has been reported from time to time by TOI, crossed over from the Wagah border to India along with his mother Sonya on June 26. This was a typical case of how Covid and restrictions that followed left people separated. The child was conceived in India but born in Pakistan as borders shut after Covid cases went up.
Sonya was two months pregnant when she went to Pakistan from Jalgaon in Maharashtra, and was left stranded when borders shut as part of Covid protocol. Riyansh was born during the stay, making him a Pakistani citizen by birth.
Finally, after decks were cleared for his return, he entered India on a visit visa. The next step will be getting a long-term visa (LTV) for him, while citizenship will take another five years. Now, in this family, the father is an Indian citizen, while mother and child are Pakistanis.
Kailash’s family was among the migrants from Sindh province of Paksitan who came into India in the recent years. Kailash had secured Indian citizenship, and he married Sonya, a Pakistani citizen. After marriage, she has been living on a LTV in India, waiting to get citizenship. She was two months pregnant when they went to Pakistan in February 2020 for a marriage and were stranded there.
Kailash, an Indian citizen had to return in the first batch, meant only for Indians. This batch was repatriated in June 2020, when Riyansh was yet to be born. Two months later, the child was born in Pakistan, and technically became a Pakistani citizen. Then came the struggle of getting the documents right, which included a Pakistani passport and Indian visa for the child.
“He has come on a fresh visa, which was granted for the visit. This will be followed by application for LTV and then citizenship,” said Kailash.
Rajesh Jhambia, president Sindhi-Hindi Association, a group of recent migrants from Pakistani, said had Riyansh been born in India it would have made him an Indian citizen. If both the parents were Indian, the child could have still directly got Indian citizenship, even if he was born abroad. However, since the mother was still a Pakistani citizen, the child will have to apply separately. The day the mother gets Indian citizenship, even the child’s status will change, he said.