Click to play videoBangalore: Getting married to a person of a different nationality can end up sparking off a tricky situation particularly in the case of a Bahrain woman who settled in India after her marriage. That is because neither country is accepting her as one of their own.
"I know I was born in Bahrain and I am living here for the past 20 years, but they still tell me that I don't belong there and I don't belong here,” bemoans Maryam Yusuf, who is married to an Indian.
With no country to call her own, the 43-year-old has lived in Bangalore since 1988, when she married an Indian.
In 1989 her passport was sent to the Bahrain embassy for her visa to be renewed. 19 years and two children later, the passport has still not been returned.
"From that day, I am living here only on the residential permit. Like every year I have to renew it,” Maryam complained. “Every two years, my life is going on like this."
In 2006, Maryam submitted a fresh visa renewal application, but policemen who visited her house last week have told Maryam that her visa has expired, and she can no longer live in India.
Maryam's husband Yadavendra is rightfully incensed.
"What is the crime she has committed that she has to have this punishment? Because whatever we have done we have done legally,” he said.
The Foreign Registration Office says Maryam needs to exhibit her credentials before she can either get an Indian citizenship or her visa extended.
But with the Bahraini embassy refusing to return her passport even after two decades, Maryam is truly caught between her own and adoptive country, both of which she can longer stake a claim too.
With inputs from Neetu Reghukumar
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