Kuwait Upto Date

Tag: Pakistan

  • Kerala Court: Marrying an Indian Doesn’t Guarantee a Visa for Pakistanis

    Kerala Court: Marrying an Indian Doesn’t Guarantee a Visa for Pakistanis

    I came across this today and thought it was worth sharing, because Kuwait has plenty of families where one spouse is Indian and the other Pakistani. If you’re in that situation, or you know someone who is, this ruling from the Kerala High Court is going to matter to you.

    A Pakistani woman married to an Indian citizen wanted to travel to India to attend her brother-in-law’s wedding. She couldn’t even find a way to submit a visa application, let alone get one approved. So the couple went to court, arguing that shutting the door on her completely, without even letting her apply, was unfair and against her basic rights.

    The court didn’t agree.

    The short version

    • The Kerala High Court ruled that no foreign national, even the spouse of an Indian citizen, has a right to demand entry into India or to have a visa application considered.
    • The judge, Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas, said visa decisions are a sovereign function tied to national security and foreign policy, not something courts can force.
    • India suspended almost all visa services to Pakistani nationals after the Pahalgam attack of 22 April 2025, and that suspension is still in effect.
    • The only visas still being processed for Pakistani nationals are medical, long-term, diplomatic and official visas.

    Why the court ruled this way

    The central government’s order came under Section 3 of the Foreigners Act, 1946, which gives it wide powers to regulate who enters the country. After the Pahalgam attack, the government issued an order on 25 April 2025 revoking almost all visas held by Pakistani nationals, effective from 27 April 2025, and pausing new visa services to them entirely.

    The petitioners argued this violated their constitutional rights under Articles 14 and 21, since the wife couldn’t even submit a form. The Union government’s response was straightforward: entry into India is a privilege granted at the state’s discretion, not a right, and that applies no matter who you’re married to.

    The court sided fully with the government, noting that this power exists to protect the country’s sovereignty, security and public order. It also pointed out that the old Foreigners Act has since been replaced by the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, which came into force on 1 September 2025, though the underlying principle – that visa entry is discretionary – remains the same.

    What this means if you’re in Kuwait

    This case was decided in an Indian court and applies to Indian immigration law, but it’s directly relevant here because of how many households in Kuwait are mixed Indian-Pakistani families, whether through marriage, shared workplaces, or simply living in the same buildings and communities.

    If you’re a Pakistani national married to an Indian citizen and were hoping to visit family in India, this ruling confirms that marriage alone won’t open that door while the current suspension stands. The court was clear that even long-term visa requests based on marriage don’t get special treatment outside the categories the government has already agreed to process.

    For Indian citizens in Kuwait with a Pakistani spouse, it also means you can’t rely on courts to force the issue if an application is refused or simply can’t be filed. The remedy, if there is one, lies with the government changing its policy, not with litigation.

    Quick answers

    Can a Pakistani spouse of an Indian citizen still apply for a medical or long-term visa?

    Yes. The suspension order specifically excludes medical, long-term, diplomatic and official visas from the freeze, so those categories are still meant to be processed.

    Is this suspension permanent?

    The court noted the order remains in force until the government revokes it. There’s no fixed end date mentioned, so anyone affected should keep checking for updates rather than assume it will lift automatically.

    If this affects your family, it’s worth keeping an eye on official Indian government notices rather than assuming things have changed. Have you or someone you know run into this while trying to plan a family visit? I’d be curious to hear how you’ve handled it.

  • India Looks to China’s Hotan Route as Pakistan Airspace Stays Shut

    India Looks to China’s Hotan Route as Pakistan Airspace Stays Shut

    I came across this today and thought it was worth sharing, especially if you’re one of the many Indian expats here in Kuwait who keeps half an eye on flight routes and fares back home.

    Pakistan has kept its airspace closed to Indian carriers since April 2025, and it’s turning into a real headache for airlines flying between Delhi and destinations in Europe and North America. Longer detours mean more fuel, more cost, and now India is looking at an unusual fix: flying over China instead.

    The short version

    • Pakistan’s airspace has been closed to Indian airlines since April 2025, forcing longer, costlier detours on western routes.
    • India is in talks with China to use the Hotan route through Xinjiang as an alternative path west.
    • Air India and IndiGo have been running feasibility studies on the route for months.
    • Air India says it lost around Rs 4,000 crore (about 4,000 crore Indian rupees) in a year because of the closure.

    Why is this happening?

    India’s aviation minister, Ram Mohan Naidu, said the government is pushing hard for the Hotan option and that diplomatic-level talks are already underway. Speaking on the sidelines of the Routes Asia event, he said India is also asking its own airlines to launch more international flights from cities in the south, where the Pakistan closure doesn’t really affect routing.

    The logic is simple enough. International travel out of India has been growing by roughly 5% a year over the past decade, but airlines can’t fully chase that growth while their western routes are stuck taking the long way round. Every extra hour in the air burns more fuel, and with oil prices where they are, that adds up fast.

    What’s the Hotan route, exactly?

    Hotan is in China’s Xinjiang region, and using it as a waypoint would let Indian wide-body aircraft like the Boeing 777, Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 avoid the current detours caused by the Pakistan closure. Air India has already made a formal presentation on the route. IndiGo could eventually use it too, once it starts taking delivery of its own A350s.

    This isn’t the first time Air India has had to reroute around a closed airspace. Before August 2021, its flights used a Pakistan-Afghanistan-Turkmenistan corridor. When the Taliban took Kabul, that route closed, and Air India shifted to a longer path via southern Pakistan, Iran and Turkey, before eventually finding a way to fly directly over the Hindu Kush mountains.

    That Hindu Kush workaround wasn’t simple either. A loaded wide-body aircraft leaving Delhi for Europe or North America needs to be light enough to climb above 30,000 feet, since the range’s tallest peak, Terich Mir, sits at 25,289 feet. Airlines needed months of simulator work to certify it, and some Air India aircraft carry extra oxygen storage so they can safely step down to lower altitudes if there’s an engine issue or a cabin pressure problem while flying over that terrain.

    What does this mean if you’re in Kuwait?

    This particular story is mainly about India’s flights to Europe and North America, not the Gulf routes that most of us here use. But if you’re an Indian resident in Kuwait who books connecting flights through Delhi or keeps track of Air India’s finances and schedules, it’s a useful bit of background. Airline costs from closures like this tend to filter down eventually, whether through fares, capacity changes, or where airlines choose to focus new routes.

    Quick answers

    Has Kuwait’s airspace been affected by any of this?

    No, this closure and the workaround being discussed are specific to Pakistan’s airspace and India’s western routes. Kuwait’s own flight paths aren’t part of this story.

    When did Pakistan close its airspace to India?

    According to the report, the closure has been in place since April 2025 and is still ongoing as of this reporting.

    It’s a reminder of how much geography still shapes air travel, even with all the technology we have now. If you’ve flown Delhi to Europe recently and noticed a longer routing, I’d be curious to hear about it in the comments.