A 74-year-old United States citizen, Johnny Paul Pierce, who visited India before the lockdown on a tourist visa has approached Kerala HC seeking to convert his tourist visa into a business visa without having to leave India. He’s looking to establish a rejuvenation Centre for foreigners in Kerala.
“It’s chaos there (US). I love Kerala. I don’t want to go back and I’d like to live here peacefully,” he said.
The pandemic and complete lockdown has made tourists and travellers to get stuck in places without any certainty. The foreigners like students, business men and women have been stranded in India due to the restrictions on travel. All the tourists and travellers have desperately wanted to go back to their home countries. It gets difficult when you are stranded in an unknown land for nearly and over 3 months without any certainty of when you might go back.
That does not seem to be the case with this 74 year old United States citizen. Johnny Paul pierce, who visited India 5 months ago on a tourist visa, seems to be falling in love with the country. He is looking to convert his tourist visa into a business visa directly and is seeking to approach the Kerala High court regarding the same. Kerala which is said to be the God’s Own Country is loved by many tourists around the world.
Mr. Pierce, the 74 year old man wants to spend the rest of his life in Kerala and does not want to leave India for the process. He wants to show a viable business model and get a five-year business visa. He says the easiest way to become a citizen of the country is to marry a local, but he says he is way past that option as he is 74 years old. He wants to set up a rejuvenation centre for the foreigners and tourists to show them the full potential of the God’s own country, Kerala. He also wants to recruit US citizens for his business project as the ones who would more likely can afford to stay for long term are usually retired. Those retired folks are more vulnerable of contracting the coronavirus in the USA and not in India, especially Kerala which has just recorded 25 deaths. He also says that Kerala is very safe and he is also absolutely safe in Kerala.
On Tuesday Mr. Pierce approached the Kerala High Court through advocate Saju S Nair. He sought to the government to permit him to apply for conversion of his tourist visa to Business visa without having to leave the country.
According to the guidelines of the Indian government, a tourist is only allowed 180 days of continuous stay in the country. Mr. Pierce visited India on the 26th of February 2020 and his 180 days are going to expire on August 24th 2020. His tourist visa is valid till January 2025 and this was his fifth visit to India as a tourist. He is staying in at Kandanadu in Ernakulam in Kerala and is stranded there since the beginning of the lockdown.
According to guidelines he cannot apply for conversion of visa directly from the country. But he says the situation in USA is pretty extreme right now and as he is 74 years old it is not safe for him to travel either. He also mentioned the chaos going on in the USA and how he loves Kerala and wants to spend the rest of his remaining life here. Mr. Pierce also said that he has enjoyed lockdown in Kerala as he got much more time to meditate and live peacefully.
Mr. Pierce is looking for making contacts in the hotel industry and as the travel and hospitality business has taken a dig during the lockdown, many resorts and hotels are up for sale with wonderful prices. He said that he looking for a resort to lease in Wagamon with several rooms and he wants to establish that as a 100% Covid Free zone. Wagamon is not crowded place and oozes peace and is a location far from the hustling bustling city life and crowds.
Mr. Pierce also mentioned his interest in movies and how he is looking to make and produce a movie in India. He has a script writer friend named Rajesh who is with him during all his visits to India. They have already entered the pre-production stage and will soon start casting actors for the movie. They are looking to produce a movie in English as it is a universal language and it is said to be digital release.
By Deepika Agarwal
