Earn $23,591 annually for employment visa: Govt.of India to foreigners

A Ukrainian citizen has approached the Bombay High Court against the Ministry of External Affairs, India, challenging a policy that mandates a minimum annual salary of $25,000 (over Rs. 11 lakh) as compulsory requirement for getting an employment visa. On June 3, she made an application to the Indian embassy in Kiev for an employment visa along with all supporting documents of her employer. “Petitioner submits that she was curtly told by the consul officer at the embassy that she would not be granted employment visa as the rule has been introduced from April 2010 mandating a salary in India equivalent to $25,000 per annum for issuance of an employment visa.”
It is now mandatory for any foreign worker to have an annual salary above Rs. 11 lakh to get an Indian employment visa. Many companies across the country hire foreigners legally at lower salaries though it’s not a publicized fact. Ms. Stelmakh Leonid Lulia, 25, was not granted visa by the Indian embassy in Kiev, Ukraine. She explains that her job at J P Morgan will lapse if she does not join in a week’s time. “This is a sensitive constitutional matter on foreigners’ right to employment and will have wide ramifications on foreign employees in the Indian services industry,” says Prashant Uchil, Stelmakh’s counsel.