Applications for film crew assessed fairly
Letter to the Editor - The Australian
20 April 2004
Dear Sir/Madam
Your story, Bollywood lives out Aussie melodrama (Friday, 16 April 2004), was factually incorrect and misleading.
The applications for the crew of this production were decided in just over two weeks and did not disrupt in any way the plans of the group. The applications at the time of lodgement were incomplete. Some applications also required the endorsement of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance - a fact well known by those sponsoring this group.
In addition, while it is clear that the Indian film industry is huge and continues to grow rapidly, it has also become a well-known ruse for people wishing to leave India to pose as entertainers in order to get visas. As a result the department is required to ensure through a process of integrity checks that the applicants are in fact entertainers. There are also the normal health and character checks.
The average processing time for an entertainment visa is five days.
The department did all it could to assist the sponsor and the producer to facilitate the group and enable them to travel in accordance with their planned itinerary and continue to meet their production deadlines. It is dissappointing that you chose to ignore these facts.
Roger Wheatley
Acting Director
Public Affairs
DIMIA