Keyser

probably never....

Paulchili

I wonder how (and who) decided that Finland and Luxembourg are the only European countries to qualify for VoA?
And why New Zealand but not Australia?

GUWonder

Visa on arrival in India will not be a generally accessible option when using a US or UK passport at any point in time for many years to come.

GUWonder

The Indian government's MEA, Home, Finance, Commerce and PMO, along with the INC, were all somehow involved in deciding which countries' nationals would get visa on arrival to India. The idea was to keep as manageable the flows of persons likely to use the facility.

Australia has a lot more citizens of South Asian origin than New Zealand, and that fact wasn't skipped over by the Indian government.

Paulchili

But isn't it the South Asian nations that are getting the VoA anyway (Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, etc)?

SQ421

Australia, US and UK also have a lot more citizens of Pakistani origin. And since GoI requires former Pakistani citizens to state their previous Pakistani citizenship on a visa application (and, from all accounts, their visa applications are processed differently and more thoroughly to visa applications by other foreign citizens); that might also be another reason why these three countries won't be included in the VoA list anytime soon.

GUWonder

Given the OECD countries on the slate to get visa on arrival, the VOA facility expansion seems to have less to do with absolute numbers of South Asians or the proportion of South Asians with a dual-citizenship history that includes citizenship history of any particular country that neighbors India and was formerly India than other factors, although it did come up. It hasn't resulted in running down countries with far higher proportions of South Asians with such particular citizenship history -- and even higher absolute numbers -- than some of the countries that have gotten or are going to get VOA earlier.

Except for perhaps Burma, the countries you name above have very few South Asians, both as a proportion of the population and even in absolute numbers. Those countries and its peoples are generally considered SE Asian rather than ethnically South Asian. [Even Thailand and Malaysia and Singapore -- which have larger South Asian communities than the countries you named above -- are considered generally SE Asian.]

celle

NZ citizens can apply for an Indian Visa on arrival at Delhi and several other airports.

I have read that this is a process almost as time-consuming and frustrating as applying for a visa in advance.

Has anyone had any recent experience of getting a Visa on Arrival?

UA Fan

Visa on arrival with Pakistan put on hold:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-21022185

celle

So, has anyone had recent experience of getting VOA?

Have things improved since the last personal experience post, in 2011?

aleph08

My recent (last Dec) experience of getting a visa before the trip, with the person in charge saying that "embassy rules can change any time and there will be strictly no exception to the rule", truly makes me avoid taking any risks.

In Tokyo, an ordinary tourist visa was usually granted in a couple of days but now it's 15 working days since last October or something.

Oh, and in order to get a multiple visa, one has to apply giving the details of both or multiple flight details. But it is also recommended NOT to book the flights before getting a visa because it might not be granted! Talk about a Catch22.

So all in all, even if the current (read: today's) policy says that VOA is available, it can be changed tomorrow, or the Visa not granted for whatever reasonable or unreasonable reason. So of course YMMV but I personally would not take any chance.

GUWonder

Refundable ticket policies can help with an escape from the Catch-22 outcomes.

abhilife2001

maybe booking the ticket but not getting the ticket issued can also work ?

UA Fan

I have thought about that but I've wondered whether the officers would notice the high cost of the ticket and question if the ticket was bought with the right intentions.

hyderago

I thought officers could only access the itinerary, not the fare details.