C O M M E N T

Filing time for non-immigration visas extended in US

ON April 12, 2007, the Citizenship and Immigration Services of United States provided some relief   for Indians seeking to work in America. It announced the extension of filing time for "O" and the "P" non-immigrant visas from six months to a year ahead of an event. The "O" category provides admission to persons with extraordinary ability in the arts, sciences, education, business or athletics, or those persons with extraordinary achievement in motion picture or television production.

The "P" category is for those entertainers and athletes who cannot qualify under the extraordinary ability standard for the "O" category. Petitioners can now file "O" and "P" petitions under normal processing procedures up to one year before a scheduled event, competition or performance. USCIS is making the change through a final rule that was transmitted to the Federal Register today for publication on April 16, 2007.

Before the change, employers and agents were only allowed to file petitions six months in advance of their events. The short filing period often meant that case processing wasn't completed until or after the date the individual was needed. "The decision to extend the timeline results from comments received after USCIS first proposed the rule in April 2005. Those comments, from performing arts organisations, educational institutions, the sports industry, members of Congress and the general public, overwhelmingly supported the proposal to extend the petition filing time from six months to a year," the agency has said.

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Some hope for cancer patients

CANCER treatment could be on the brink of a revolution. It follows a study showing that it may be possible appreciably improve the efficacy of chemotherapy drugs without causing serious side effects.

Scientists after a series of pioneering experiments have demonstrated a new way of making tumour cells far more susceptible to attack with extremely low doses of anti-cancer drugs. The development offers hope that the gruesome side effects of chemotherapy, suffered by thousands of cancer patients, may be thing of the past.

The study suggests the possibility of lowering the dosage levels to a point where toxic side effects from the drugs may not occur while making chemotherapy more effective at eliminating tumour cells from the body.

However, the scientists who conducted the study emphasised that further research in the laboratory and on animals will be needed before the first clinical trials on cancer patients can begin in no less than three to five years time. Michael White, professor of cell biology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre in Dallas said “There's nothing here that is immediately useful to those individuals with cancer," said "We're still at the beginning, but this sort of approach is very fast and very effective. It shortens the discovery process, which makes the development process so much quicker."

Professor White finds Chemotherapy as a very blunt instrument. “It makes people sick, and its effects are very inconsistent. Identifying genes that make chemotherapy drugs more potent at lower doses is a first step toward alleviating these effects in patients," he said.

Nearly 85,000 different molecules of RNA - a substance similar to the DNA genetic blueprint - were used in the study to screen a cell's genes by targeting those that could be silenced. The process gradually switches them off, much like an electric dimmer switch.

The scientists have already started trials on laboratory animals with cancer to see if the latest approach can be used to make them more sensitive to lower doses of chemotherapy drugs.

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The Internationalisation of Genocide

CUBAN president Fidel Castro Ruz who is recovering from a serious illness recently expressed his concerns on the biofuels as these would jeopardize the world food situation, making more poor go hungry worldwide. He wrote,” Some countries export their food surpluses. Others face a precarious situation as food prices skyrocket. According to recent data, the five chief producers of corn, barley, sorghum, rye, millet, and oats — that President Bush wants to transform into raw material for ethanol production — supply the world with 679 million tonnes of them. Similarly, the five chief consumers, some of which also produce the grain, currently need annually 604 million tonnes of them. The available surplus is then less than 80 million tonnes. The colossal squandering of cereals for fuel production — and these estimates do not include oilseeds — will serve to save rich countries less than 15 per cent of the annual consumption of their voracious automobiles.

For further reading go to
http://www.thehindu.com/2007/04/09/stories/2007040902701100.htm

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Remittances by Non Resident Indians

HOW to repatriate the proceeds from the sale of the existing property in India to accounts in Canada or America is the question that bothers many NRIs? What are the formalities and what taxes are there from the sale of the property?

Rules regarding Acquisition and transfer of immovable property in India [FEMR] state:

“In the event of sale of immovable property other than agricultural land/farm house/plantation property in India by a person resident outside India who is a citizen of India or a person of Indian origin, the AD may allow repatriation of the sale proceeds outside India, provided —

i) the immovable property was acquired by the seller in accordance with the provisions of the foreign exchange law in force at the time of acquisition by him or the provisions of these regulations;

ii) the amount to be repatriated does not exceed (a) the amount paid for acquisition of the immovable property in foreign exchange received through normal banking channels or out of funds held in Foreign Currency Non-Resident Account, or (b) the foreign currency equivalent, as on the date of payment, of the amount paid where such payment was made from the funds held is Non-Resident External account for acquisition of the property; and

iii) in the case of residential property, the repatriation of sale proceeds is restricted to not more than two such properties.”

The Indian assets are non-repatriable but the current income there from like interest, dividend, rent, capital gains, pension, etc., can be.

Before effecting repatriation of income of the account holder, the ADs are required to ensure that he has paid or made provisions to pay income tax thereon, if any. ADMA Circular 28 dt. 26.7.97 required NRIs to obtain a ‘no-objection or tax-clearance certificate’ from the department and submit it to his AD to enable it allow repatriation. Until the receipt of the same, the AD was required to hold the related amount either in a suspense account or in the NRO accounts of the NRI. This was inconvenient to all concerned and also time consuming.

As per AP (DIR) Circular 27 on 28.9.02 ADs may also allow remittance abroad of the income by accepting an undertaking (in duplicate) addressed to the Assessing Officer and signed by the person making the remittance. This should be accompanied by a certificate of a Chartered Account who is not in employment of the NRI, stating that tax has been deducted at the rates in force, or is provided for or is not payable.

You might find difficulty in using this provision since it appears that the house was not purchased through remittance of Forex from abroad or through your NRE account. Moreover, the installment of repayment of loan made so far was not through Forex. In that case, only the Forex used by you for the purchase and the repayment would be repatriable.

If that be the case, note that —

Circular 67/2003-RB dt 13.1.03 makes it possible for an NRI or a PIO to remit as much as $ 1 million per calendar year for bona fide purposes out of the sale proceeds of assets held in NRO accounts. He should have acquired the assets in question, out of rupee resources when he was in India or by way of legacy/inheritance from a person who was a resident in India.

The following funds/ assets are eligible for remittance:

a) Sale proceeds of immovable property.

b) Assets acquired by way of Inheritance/legacy.

c) Deposit with a bank or a firm or a company.

d) Provident fund balance or superannuation benefits.

e) Amount of claim or maturity proceeds of insurance policy.

f) Sale proceeds of shares and securities.

g) Any other asset held in India, in accordance with the FEMA.

An NRI could also remit sale proceeds of immovable property purchased by him as Resident funds provided he held such a property for not less than 10 years. If the period was less, remittance could be made if the sale proceeds were held for the balance period in NRO accounts or in any other eligible investment to the satisfaction of the AD. Circular AP (DIR) 12 dated 16.11.06 has removed this lock-in of 10 years.

The remittance can be affected only when it is sought for all bona fide purposes to the satisfaction of the AD. An undertaking by the remitter and certificate by a Chartered Accountant in the format prescribed by CBDT vide their Circular 10/2002 dt 9.10.02 has to be produced.

It is necessary to file Form-A2, FEMA declaration, certificate from an accountant, and undertaking for payment of income tax, in the specified format. A no-objection-certificate from the income tax department will be useful, but not necessary.

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The Pilgrims March

THERE are roughly three million Hindus in Pakistan. They account about 1.6% of the total population. There are some pilgrim centers like Katashraj. With improved bilateral ties between India and Pakistan, more pilgrims are being allowed to visit these places of worship. Pilgrims are also coming from other countries, mostly India.

Before the partition of India in 1947, more than 20% of the population of today's Pakistan was Hindu. Later, disputes with India and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism forced many to migrate to India or convert to other religions.

Hinglaj Mata, Once a journey of more than 150km through the desert from the nearest road, the temple is now easily accessible through a newly built coastal highway. Pilgrims come from all over Pakistan, carrying red banners and wearing decorative red-and-gold head-scarves or saffron headbands that signify the holy colours of Hinglaj Mata.

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