Gov't of India - Unwelcome to Foreigners

Every foreigner in India that is staying for more than 6 months or arriving on a student visa has to register at the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO).  The purpose of the registration is national security.  Unfortunately I was subject to this registration since I'm here on a student visa.  I'm not against the idea of national security but if you've been to any government office in India, you'll know the insane bureaucracy that exists in this country.  It's ludicrous!  I was supposed to register within 2 weeks of arrival and you're expected to have a permanent address.  Considering I only moved to my "permanent address" on day 15, I was already facing an Rs. 1395 penalty (~US $35).

Regardless, I arrived at the FRRO with a letter from the institute where I'm studying, 4 passport photos and my passport.  I walked up to reception and was told I could not be accepted.  The gentleman did not provide any reasoning - he just pointed to a sign behind me - hours of operation were 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM (with a lunch break from 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM).  It was 3:03 PM.  I politely asked the man to let me in since I was technically there but had spent the last 10 minutes filling out their form.  He refused...  and then went on to give me a lecture about how I shouldn't "teach him a lesson."  When I explained that I couldn't come back the next few days since I couldn't cut out of class he said I shouldn't have even come to New Delhi then!!  I was shocked.  This is the face of the FOREIGNERS Office - an office that is outright rude and inconsiderate to foreigners within their first few days in India.

As a heritage Indian, I argued through this (in Hindi, of course) and he finally let me in but I was completely disappointed that India, my mother country, is essentially discouraging foreigners with this sort of behavior.  From a macro perspective, India most definitely need foreigners (heritage Indians or otherwise) - for investment, to improve education standards, to assist with governance, to bring innovation, etc... and the FRRO is working directly against that.  Government of India, please add this to your already long list of things to fix!

The bureaucracy didn't end there.  I then had to leave the office to make 3 copies of the form I had just filled out (why can't they just make the copies themselves?  Or perhaps invest in a coin-operated photocopy machine at the office?).  When I returned to the office I was bounced from counter to counter.  At one point, they even stopped working on my registration for a tea break.  Regardless, my work got done and surprisingly it didn't take too much longer than an hour and a half, although I'm quite positive that my argument at reception allowed me to jump the line.  I felt bad for the people that were still at the office struggling through the process - it really shouldn't be this difficult.