India to be least affected by immigration restriction laws, says French diplomat

Yves Perrin, France's consul-general, said on 27 February that restrictions on immigrations being implemented by some countries in the West were least likely to affect Indians.

Perrin said this in Pune while inaugurating the new visa centre of VFS Global, a service provider for governments and diplomatic missions all over the world, in the city.

Perrin was quoted by the Times of India as telling the press that relations between India and European countries, including France, have been very cordial. He said that over 500,000 Indians had visited France in 2016 for the purposes of tourism, education or on business. Saying that Indians have a clean reputation in all the countries they have immigrated to, he said that any possible changes in immigration policies of any country are not likely to affect them.

Speaking about France, Perrin said that Indians have no reason to be apprehensive while visiting that West European country.

All parties that are staking claim to form a government in France presidential polls, scheduled to be held later this year, think highly about Indian nationals, he said adding that bilateral ties were excellent between France and India. Of the 48,000 visas that were issued by French consulate in Mumbai, 6,000 were issued to people from in and around Pune. VFS officials said that the number of applications to France from this city had doubled since 2014.

Perrin said that wanted to see more Indians evincing interest in visiting France every year.

According to him, more than a million nationals of China had visited France in 2016. Around 30,000 Chinese students were enrolled in colleges and universities across France as against only 4,000 students from India.

He said he wanted to see more Indians visiting France, particularly for education and tourism, as trade between the two nations has been strong for quite some time.

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