Friends of mine — a European couple who have been in India for more than 15 years, and whose two children were born here — recently left Delhi to go back to Europe for the holidays. They hope to return by the time school starts up again in January. But they aren’t so sure they will.

我有两个朋友是一对在印度呆了15年以上的欧洲夫妇，他们的孩子也是在印度出生的。他们最近从德里返回欧洲度假。他们希望在1月份学校再次开学前回去。但他们不确定能否能够回去。

The reason for their doubt is that, along with celebrating the holidays, they have to deal with a bit of bureaucracy: reapplying for new visas back in what India’s government refers to as their “home country”, whose passports they still carry.

他们感到怀疑的原因在于，除了欢庆假期以外，他们还不得不应对一点繁文缛节：他们要在印度政府所称的他们的“祖国”重新申请签证，他们仍持有那个国家的护照。

Despite my friends’ long tenure¹ here, and the fact that the husband owns a Delhi-based design company employing 12 Indian professionals, New Delhi still requires them to return to Europe every five years for their permission to live in India to be reassessed. That is because there is no path to legal permanent residency for foreigners who are not of Indian ancestry², except through marriage or by giving up their original citizenship³ to become naturalised.

尽管我的朋友们在印度生活了很长时间，两人中的丈夫还在德里拥有一家雇佣了12名印度专业人士的设计公司，印度政府依然要求他们每5年返回欧洲一次，以对他们居留印度的许可进行重新评估。这是因为除了通过和印度人结婚或者放弃原有国籍入籍印度以外，没有印度血统的外国人没有在印度获得合法永久居留权的路径。

Much like Israel’s “right of return” for Jews around the world, India opens its doors to foreign nationals of ethnic⁴ Indian origins, provided neither they nor their ancestors come from what are now Pakistan or Bangladesh.

和以色列赋予世界各地犹太人的“回归权”很像，印度也对印度裔外籍人士敞开大门——只要他们自身或者他们的祖先不是来自现在的巴基斯坦或者孟加拉国。

Foreigners of Indian ancestry are considered “Overseas Citizens of India”, allowed to live and work here indefinitely without giving up their foreign citizenship, although they cannot vote or run for office. The ethnic diaspora is seen as “umbilically connected” to the Motherland.

拥有印度血统的外国人被视为“海外印度公民”。尽管无法投票或者参选，但这些人无需放弃自己的外国国籍就可以无限期地在印度生活和工作。散居海外的侨民被视为与祖国“血脉相连”。

But foreigners who don’t have Indian blood and are not married to someone who has are not accorded such privileges, no matter how long they’ve been in the country, or how much they’ve invested in building a business. Long-term foreign residents are treated with suspicion. Their visas come with varying inconvenient⁵ conditions — such as having to leave the country every six months (for those on business visas), or returning to their “home country” annually⁶ or every five years to reapply, often with changing documentation requirements.

但没有印度血统，也没有和印度人结婚的外国人就无法享受这种特权了——无论他们在这个国家居留了多长时间，或者为了在印度建立企业投资了多少。长期在印度居留的外国人受到怀疑。他们的签证附带各种各样不方便的条件——比如（持商业签证的人）必须每6个月离开印度，或者他们需要每年或每5年返回“祖国”重新申请签证，往往文件要求还有变化。

“I just had no idea if I was ever going to be allowed back in this country,” one long-term American resident, who has owned a business here for two decades, recalled after a vexing⁷ recent visa run to the US. “It was the worst feeling of my life.”

“我不知道自己还会不会允许被回到这个国家，”一位美国籍长期居留者（此人拥有一家印度企业已经20年了）回忆起最近一次回到美国办签证的恼人经历时说，“那是我一生中感觉最糟糕的时候。”

The only way for a non-ethnic Indian foreigner to obtain long-term residency rights (apart from marriage) is to become a naturalised Indian after seven years here. But — in common with other countries such as Austria, China and Norway — India does not permit dual⁸ nationality so they have to relinquish⁹ their original citizenship.

对非印度裔外国人而言，（除了婚姻以外）获取长期居留权的唯一方法是在居留印度7年后申请加入印度籍。但是，和奥地利、中国和挪威一样，印度不允许双重国籍，因此想要归化入籍就必须放弃自己原来的国籍。

That is a step few want to take — with rare exceptions such as Italy-born Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi, widow of the former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, and prominent Belgium-born economist¹⁰ Jean Drèze.

很少有人愿意采取这一步，除了极其少有的例外，比如前总理拉吉夫甘地(Rajiv Gandhi)的遗孀、意大利出生的国大党主席索妮娅甘地(Sonia Gandhi)，以及在比利时出生的著名经济学家让德雷兹(Jean Drèze)。

“There is no halfway¹¹ house in India,” one official told me. “They have to choose which country they love more. You can’t say we love India, but we love Britain more.”

“在印度没有折中的办法，”一名官员告诉我，“他们必须选择他们更爱哪个国家。你不能说我们爱印度，但我们更爱英国。”

Such a stand is ironic¹², given how many Indian citizens obtain legal permanent residency in the US and UK without having to give up their original citizenship. According to the US Department of Homeland Security, more than 600,000 Indian citizens in the past decade received green cards, which allow them to live and work in the US indefinitely, without forfeiting¹³ their Indian citizenship. In 2013, the UK granted indefinite leave to remain — essentially¹⁴ permanent residency — to more than 26,000 Indian citizens.

考虑有不少印度公民不必放弃原有国籍就获得了美国和英国的永久居留权，这样的立场很讽刺。根据美国国土安全部(DHS)的数据，过去10年有60多万印度公民获得了美国绿卡，可以无限期地在美国生活和工作，且不会失去他们的印度公民身份。2013年，英国授予了超过2.6万名印度公民无限期居留许可——相当于永久居留权。

But India offers no such welcome to foreign residents. “You can invest, but there is no long-term security,” my European, Hindi-speaking friend griped while packing last week.

但印度对居留印度的外国人就没这么欢迎了。“你可以投资，但是没有长期保障，”我那个能说印地语的欧洲朋友上周在打点行李时抱怨道。

Mark Runacres, a former British diplomat¹⁵ who now owns an executive search firm in India, believes New Delhi’s approach is a legacy¹⁶ of its autarkic past. “As far as they were concerned, there was only one circumstance in which foreigners came and that was if their employers sent them,” Mr Runacres said. “They simply didn’t think in terms of foreign business people who wanted to come here and set up businesses.”

在印度拥有一家猎头公司的英国前外交官马克拉纳克斯(Mark Runacres)相信，印度政府的做法是过去闭关自守时代的遗留影响。“在他们眼中，外国人来印度只有一种情况，就是雇主派他们来这里的时候，”拉纳克斯说，“他们完全没有从希望来印度开办企业的外国商务人士的视角来考虑问题。”

As India seeks to promote itself as a dynamic and creative global economic hub, it could do with a more welcoming approach to global citizens.

随着印度寻求将自身宣传为一个充满活力和创造力的全球经济中心，印度需要用一种更友好的姿态来欢迎全球公民。