A Guide to Indian Visas

Goa get a visa….

For all you dumballers of 2017 – here is some precious info on your Indian visas. December 10th is the date you need to think about – from that day on you can apply of an online visa. Please read this carefully!

We get a lot of queries about visas…. And unless you have a passport from Nepal, Bhutan or the Maldives – you WILL need a visa of some sort. There’s a lot of info here, but it’s really not complicated and if you’re a UK citizen it should be straightforward, so start thinking about it now and it will all be fine.

There are 3 ways of doing this:

  1. Apply online.
  2. Apply in person/by post.
  3. Get someone else to do it for you.

There are companies that claim to take all the hassle out of getting a visa by sorting it for you. We say don’t bother with #3 – it costs unnecessary extra money and doesn’t really achieve anything. Man-up and do it yourself.

If you’re of Pakistani origin (parents or grandparents, something to do with a small tiff India and Pakistan have been having lately….), you’re desperate to get the visa sorted ASAP, or you have any other special requirements you need to go with #2.

But if you can – hold off until 10th December – from this day you will be eligible to apply for e-Tourist Visa, and then you can do the whole thing online, all you need is a printer and passport photo of yourself to scan. There are still some conditions, so check here now, to make sure you’re valid. For example, e-Tourist Visa is only valid for single entry , non-extendable , non-convertible and not valid for visiting Protected/Restricted and Cantonment Areas so if you’re planning extending your dumball trip by a lot or anything else fancy, go for #2.

Here’s the official Indian Government website – everyone should read this:
https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/
Here’s the agency you need to deal with in the UK (the ONLY valid one) if you go for #2:
http://in.vfsglobal.co.uk/

1. Apply online

Simple. Wait until 10th December 2016, then go here, click the orange ‘e-Tourist Visa Application’ and fill in the blanks. These are the details you’ll need:

  • Your personal info and passport details. Standard.
  • Your parents Nationality, country and place of birth.
  • Port of arrival: Delhi or Mumbai Airport – if your not arriving here, check if an e-visa is valid for your arrival point.
  • Places likely to be visited: Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa
  • Purpose of visit: Tourism
  • Last Indian Visa No/Currently valid Indian Visa No.: if you happened to go to India years ago to find yourself… but have lost your visa number from 2 passports ago… enter ‘00000000’ as the number and ‘PREVIOUS VISA NUMBER UNKNOWN’ in the ‘Cities previously visited in India’ field.
  • Expected Port of Exit from India: Goa or Mumbai International Airport – wherever you’re planning on leaving from.
  • Countries visited in last ten years: Well…. if you’ve done nothing but dumball, the list will be: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine! But the countries with stamps or visas in your passport are the ones that matter.
  • The SAARC countries are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka – You’ll know if you’ve visited them!
  • Reference Name in India: Wilson Mathew
  • [Reference] Address: Intersight Ltd, Anna Building, NH BYPASS, THYKKOODAM, KOCHI KERALA
  • [Reference] Phone: +91-48-4304-5555
  • You’ll also need to upload a scan of a passport photo (in JPG format, <300KB), and your passport data page (in PDF format <1MB). Details here (click ‘Document Requirement‘).
IMPORTANT: Once you’re finished you an email saying your visa has been granted – now go back to the website, click Visa Staus and get a PDF which you will need to print yourself and not forget on the big day! The email they send you is not the visa itself. The copy you can get from their website has a photo of you and a QR barcode which will help you get through immigrations and customs much quicker!

The fee is USD$60, about £47 (for now…) for a UK passport holder, others see here.

We had some issues with the payment system last year, but it looks like they may have updated their system. 3 failures mean you have to start again, which is annoying, but just keep trying and you should get through eventually… Try a different card if one is consistently failing. More info here (click ‘FAQ-SBI Payment Related‘).

Also, it now accepts PayPal! So that should make life a lot easier. Select ‘Sbi e-pay‘ as the Payment Gateway to get this option.

There’s a good guide to the whole eVisa process here.

2. Apply in person/by post

The procedure for this is to apply online (go here, then click on the orange ‘Regular Visa Application’), and then submit your documents to the ‘mission’. If you can’t bear to be away from your passport for long, or you don’t like the idea of putting your passport in the post, you can submit your documents in person, by appointment only (which you can arrange when you apply).

You’ll need to deal with VFS Global – the only agency who deals directly with Indian visas in the UK – and they have offices in various cites around the UK. You’ll need to select London, Birmingham or Edinburgh as your ‘mission’ depending on where you live – although they have office in various other places too – see here for the full rules. Note however, you must select London if you’re going to post your documents, and that posting documents adds at least 2 weeks to the process, and any problems will just result in having your documents sent back and having to start again.

You’ll need at least 2 blank pages and at least 6 months left on your passport (this applies to all methods) and 2 standard passport photos. All the other info you should need is the same as above.

There’s a good guide to the whole process here.

The fee is £89.44.

3. Get someone else to do it for you.

Well, you’re on your own here really. These guys will gladly charge you 96 quid on top of the standard £89.44 fee… and you still have to fill in the exact same form as everyone else. Your basically paying someone to queue up on your behalf – but you can do it all by post or online now anyway.

That’s it! Go forth and do diplomatic things! But remember getting a visa is crucial and it is your responsibility. So look into now, and set yourself a reminder for December if you go an eTV. We’ll be on your case nearer the time though too, don’t worry…

3 thoughts on “A Guide to Indian Visas

  1. This is just to say a big thank you for getting me over my India visa problem. My previous visa details were unknown because my last passport was stolen. You explained what to do and it worked! Brilliant. I do like what Dumball are doing but it’s not for me at the grand age of 81.

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