* finally a research visa
Posted on January 7th, 2009 by Alex. Filed under India.
Finally I received the necessary Research Visa to become a PhD student at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. It took almost 1.5 years at the cost of many nerves, telephone calls, office and department visits and highs and lows throughout the duration. In the end everything went very smoothly and fast. Especially if vitamin C (C for Connections) comes into the picture; such as: I know somebody, who knows somebody and his sister’s son could help in this issue.
Several times I was very close to pack everything up and just to leave this place. I already organized boxes for transferring the whole stuff back to Germany. However some of my friends (big thanks to them) managed to calm me down every time. It will definitely a new personal record my patience and persistence record.
I heard some complains from Indians regarding the delay of issuing an Indian passport. Sometimes it takes about 3 months. 3 months??!?!? 
Funny! This is not comparable it took for me just to get the Indian visa.
The moral of the story is: If you need something from the government, be persistent and patient. Do not forget to annoy them by frequent phone calls or to be at their door step personally quite often. Hope dies last!