Welcome to India! For intrepid travelers who’ve been waiting
for it to get easier to visit the largest democracy, things are looking up.
Citizens of 43 countries, including the U.S., Brazil,
Germany and Australia, can now apply for a visa-on-arrival, cutting out the
need to visit an Indian embassy and wait in line for a permit.
The Ministry of Tourism has just released the details. What
you need is a passport valid for six months, a photograph, $60 and four days.
You can upload these documents along with an online
application form on this website, pay your visa fees via debit or credit card,
and wait to receive an “electronic travel authorization” via email.
You are only welcome if your “sole objective of visiting
India is recreation, sight seeing, casual visit to meet friends or relatives,
short duration medical treatment or casual business visit,” according to the
website.
Here’s what you need to know: You submit an online
application, which must include a copy of your passport and a photograph. A
screening process follows, and within 72 hours, you will know if your visa
application has been approved.
Once that’s done, print a copy of the “electronic travel
authorization” you receive via email, and take it with you to present when you
land at one of nine international airports across India. At the airport, an
immigration official will take your fingerprint and, everything being in order,
you’ll be cleared to enter the country.
You should have a return ticket as well as enough money to
spend during your stay in India.
You must apply at least four days at up to 30 days in
advance of your visit to India, and once you arrive you can only stay in the
country for 30 days.
When you arrive at one of nine airports — Bangalore,
Chennai, Cochin, Delhi ,Goa, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Trivandrum — you’ll
need to present your electronic travel authorization, and have your biometric
details recorded at immigration.
You can’t extend this visa, or apply for it more than twice
in a year.
Your photograph in the application should show a front view
of your full face from the top of your hair to the bottom of your chin,
centered within the frame and with your eyes open. Make sure there are no
shadows on the face or background, and upload a square image without borders —
against a white or light background — as a JPEG file between 10 KB and 1 MB in
size.
Run into trouble during the application process? Track the
status online by clicking here or call +91-11-24300666 or email
indiatvoa@gov.in.
Here’s a full list of eligible countries including 12 that
were already able to get visa on arrival: Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, Cook
Islands, Djibouti, Fiji, Finland, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Jordan,
Kenya, Kiribati, Laos, Luxembourg, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico,
Micronesia, Myanmar, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue Island, Norway, Oman, Palau,
Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Russia, Samoa, Singapore,
Solomon Islands, Thailand, Tonga, Tuvalu, UAE, Ukraine, USA, Vanuatu, Vietnam.
