Karl Edward Rice, better known on YouTube as Karl Rock, has returned to India nearly 18 months after his visa was revoked by the authorities.
Karl Rock returns to India
After 500 days on India’s blacklist, Karl Rock said he was finally permitted to return to his family in India.
Moreover, for breaking the terms and conditions of his visa, the New Zealand national has been barred from entering India till 2022, according to Union Home Ministry authorities. “He was on a tourist visa but was conducting business,” an officer stated.
Meanwhile, his wife, Manisha Malik, then filed a lawsuit in the Delhi High Court challenging his visa cancellation and blacklisting. Karl had strictly followed the rules of the country and the terms of his visa, according to the court petition, and there had been no complaints against him.
Following his marriage, he was granted an X-2 visa, which was valid until 2024 and was intended for spouses and children of Indian nationals. One of the visa’s requirements was that he leave India every 180 days or notify the relevant Foreigner Regional Registration Office (FRRO).
His most recent visit to India was in November of this year. He had registered in Mussoorie’s Landour School of Languages to study Hindi, but was stuck due to the March 2020 countrywide lockdown. He had attempted to notify the FRRO for a visa extension as the 180-day mark approached.
The application was denied, and he was instead awarded an exit permission. His visa was cancelled at the Delhi Airport when he was leaving India in October 2020 to fly to Dubai and Pakistan.
He sought for a new visa in Dubai and was then summoned to the Indian High Commission, where he was informed that he had been placed on a blacklist. His visa was cancelled when he was leaving Delhi, despite him complying with all restrictions, according to the appeal.
Karl Rock had previously told sources over the phone from New Zealand, “I was not given a reason why I had been blacklisted. I was told to reach out to the Ministry of Home Affairs. When my wife tried to, she was ignored and did not get any help.”
Karl, from New Zealand, has a YouTube channel where he gives travel recommendations for visitors visiting India. He married in 2019 and moved to Pitampura, Delhi, with his wife and her family.
Karl Rock’s Story
Karl Rock’s story is one of many of a foreigner falling in love with India, until it isn’t. As an 18-year-old in Auckland, eating my first helping of butter chicken while watching Bollywood movies on repeat with Indian-origin pals from Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Punjab. When he initially touched down in 2013, the eat, play, love feeling had practically faded away.
Since then, Karl Rock has garnered over 17 lakh YouTube subscribers as a travel vlogger, met his soulmate in Delhi, and is now stuck in New Zealand after being banned by the Indian government.
After Rock’s wife Manisha Malik filed a lawsuit against his visa being revoked, the Delhi High Court issued a notice to the Centre on Friday.
Rock, who has lived in the Rohini neighbourhood of Delhi with his wife Manisha for the past few years, has encountered touts in Haridwar, piracy scams at the Nehru Place tech market, and fake Pashmina shawls in Connaught Place, and has emerged with fluent Hindi and a stern catchphrase, “Nahi chahiye ji!”
During his recent trip to Pakistan, a shopkeeper tried to get Rock’s vote in the India-Pakistan chai-off. Rock promptly replied, “The tea in India is better, sorry bro. I’m not going to troll India” and signed off with ‘Jai Hind’.
The majority of the response, on the other hand, has been positive. Last year, Rock reached a new high when he posted a video of himself donating plasma after recuperating from Covid-19. Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi Chief Minister, tweeted the video, describing Rock as a “New Zealand-origin Delhiite.”
