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That India, Pakistan and Bangladesh tend to dislike each other severely due to past events and general history is a matter of record. India and Pakistan disagreement over Kashmir 'does not help'. Suggestions that travel between them may lead to hassles seem not wholly without merit.

I'm told:
that having even a visa from one in your passport may cause you hassles with others. An ongoing history of visiting others even more so. Having a close relative working in India may be flagged by Bangladesh and/or Pakistan and cause extra hassles.

I am concerned whether any of this is true and, if so, how to manage it.

Summary: I wish to know if there are issues in applying to travel between India, Bangladesh and Pakistan on various occasions and combinations.
My concerns are not re normal travel issues but the potential for "political action" by any parties. I have been led to understand that the less than perfect relationships between the countries concerned can lead to travel issues if you travel between these countries in various ways over a number of trips.
The relevance of mentioning my wife is that her employment in India may add to any concerns over my status. I may have got things completely out of proportion, but I have been told that even a visa for country A in your passport can cause country B to treat you badly.

BACKGROUND: I'm a New Zealand national. My and my wife's ancestors all come from the UK - via Australia during the colonial days. ie we have no South (or other) Asian "roots".

My wife will be travelling to India on business on several occasions throughout 2014, for 3 to 6 weeks at a time. When applying for her Indian visa she was asked many questions relating to Pakistan, if she had any ancestors or relative from Pakistan (no), if she had ever been there (no) and what countries she had visited in the last 10 years.

I would like to visit her in India on one or more occasions - I've never been to India or elsewhere nearby and would love to visit. I'm involved in solar lighting and may well spend some time on business in India in a business capacity - even if only looking at what others are doing. I maybe wanted to provide assistance to a non-profit organisation in Bangladesh who are providing lighting systems in villages. I have also indicated to a US based non-profit who provides solar lighting in villages in Pakistan that I would be interested in assisting them if they considered I may be useful.

I am an APEC card holder - which gives me visa-free access to a number of Asian countries, but not to any of the three concerned here but may help establish my legitimacy as a business traveller in the region. I wish to travel between India, Bangladesh and Pakistan in a business capacity (paid or pro bono) and want to be fully open and honest about where I am going and what I am doing. In India I would be a tourist when visiting my wife but otherwise probably could best be described as on business. The visit to Bangladesh would be business focused but I may not get paid. Pakistan - business - no details yet known.

Am I going to face problems due to my travel to and from the other countries and activities in the other countries?

Is having my wife in India on a business visa going to affect my travel?

Is there an optimum visa to apply for?

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    Generally we try to ask one question per question. Obviously some questions do seem to come grouped into natural units so we don't try to enforce a rule blindly. But while some parts of your question I think belong here together, in other places it feels like you should be asking several separate specific questions. So you want to know if there are issues with stamps in passports, crossing borders, filling out forms where you have to tell India "yes I'm going to Pakistan too"? The parts about what kind visa for you, and for your wife I'm not sure they also all belong here, but let's see ...
    – hippietrail
    Commented Jan 4, 2014 at 4:18
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    My advice to you, make Bangladesh in the middle, going to/from Bangladesh to Pakistan or India is much easier than going from India to Pakistan and vice versa. So, Pakistan-Bangladesh-India or India-Bangladesh-Pakistan. I have visited these three countries, out of my personal experience I will sort them in terms of "difficulty and bureaucracy" when it comes to immigrations and customs and rules: 1- India 2- Pakistan 3- Bangladesh. One last things, check the cash money rules when entering/exiting India, it is complicated.
    – Nean Der Thal
    Commented Jan 4, 2014 at 7:18
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    "Put on hold as too broad" is specious, at best. I have a specific query. How do you suggest I narrow it - if you DO have a good suggestion please offer it. I, P & B tend to dislike each other severely due to past events and general history. I'm told that having even a visa from one in your passport may cause you hassles with others. A history of visiting others even more so, I'm told. Having a close relative working in I may be flagged by B and/or P, I'm told, and cause extra hassles, I'm told. Is any of this true? Is there a best way of managing this? How do you tighten that question?
    – Russell McMahon
    Commented Jan 5, 2014 at 23:47
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    +1. I don't really see how this could be narrowed down much further, if anything the poster is remarkably specific about their situation.
    – lambshaanxy
    Commented Jan 6, 2014 at 0:39
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    Yeah, @RussellMcMahon we like the question, but as people have pointed out, it's got half a dozen questions in there. hippie and I were debating how one might fix it in the Travel Chat.
    – Mark Mayo
    Commented Jan 6, 2014 at 3:50

2 Answers 2

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I have lived in India and Pakistan, even when at war with one another, and made several business trips to each of India and Bangladesh. I have never noticed the slightest issue arising from these visits. Admittedly this was for travel on a passport that was from none of the three countries. The only difference I am aware of was being hoiked out of a long queue at Immigration - to be inserted at the front. That rather surprised me.

However, I am aware Pakistani nationals face all kinds of exceptional 'monitoring' when trying to enter India so I would not be surprised by some 'tit for tat'. Bangladesh seems rather less sensitive about other nationalities. These though are administrative inconveniences - they might reduce the chances of obtaining a visa and do restrict means of access, but once permission is granted make little difference.

Perhaps your appearance is of a local and you fear prejudice on that account, but if so it may help if you were more specific.

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I am an Indian and haven't been to Bangladesh or Pakistan but from what we see and hear, i can share following:

  1. It is lot more easier to travel between India and Bangladesh as they are friendlier nations.

  2. Once you have travelled to India or Pakistan, then planning to travel to other country will most likely involve lots of scrutiny.

Indo-Pak relations have worsened in recent past so you need to prepared for scrutiny or even Visa rejection.

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