Employment visa for volunteer work?

collyflower

Hi, I have searched and not found the exact satisfying answer to my question...so here I go with a new thread -

I am an Australian who has been offered a 'job' doing volunteer work in Delhi at a small NGO. In return for my work I would receive food and lodgings, and possibly a small amount of money (negligible) - the point is that they cannot afford at this point to hire anyone, Indian or non-Indian, and I am willing to go.

I was going to go for a tourist visa and do the border crossing/reapply every 6 months (Australians can't get the 10 year visa) but am worried that if I want to stay for more than a couple of years this may become difficult/impossible.

So I am now looking into an employment visa. My 'employer' can provide a letter of offer and contract, but would it look bad if they were offering me a minuscule salary? Has anyone done this before? Any advice/experience would be welcome. I think I will ask for the letters and then just go to Sydney and try anyway...

Thanks

Aishah

Collyflower - a friend of mine has been doing NGO work here for the last 6 years and she is only able to have tourist visas. Hers is done in France. You could try with what you suggest and see what the answer is. It seems some Indian High Commissions in different countries seem to have different rules. I think the one in Australia will only issue 6 months visa for tourist, but in USA can issue 10 years. Some countries are supposed to be getting 5 year tourist visas. You can enquire in Sydney, as to what the possibilities are.

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