Over 600 Indian youth denied Visa to WYD

August 2, 2011: Over 600 youth who are part of the official Indian delegation going to World Youth Day in Madrid have been denied Visas. “Our young people can’t show a huge bank balance and the Spanish Visa authorities think that they are all potential refugees in the European Union,’ says a national youth animator on anonymity.
He added “our Indian Catholic Youth Movement is taking some 800 youth and the Catholic Bishops Conference of India is taking another 342 young people. Of these, 11,42 youth and their animators and chaplains, some 600 young people have not yet got their visa even after several rounds of futile attempts.”
“Even four priests accompanying young people to the WYD have been denied visa,” he said. The WYD visa facilitation coordinator in Madrid Mr Santiago is hopeful and said “we are doing our very best for Indian groups. We are still here working.” He said he was going to request a formal response from the Foreign Affairs Ministry. He hoped that he would get a positive response from the Ministry.
The WYD young people belong to 13 regional youth groups of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, as well as groups belonging to Salesians, Jesuits, and Jesus Youth.