goodndntwin

Hah. You and I must have very different idea of the definition of easy. Based on my experience it should be renamed Tra-visty.

Good to hear of the changes, but annoying since I just had renewed my 10 year visa last year for a couple hundred dollars.

GUWonder

The visa issue is one of the reasons why India loses some tourist revenue.

knit-in

I wasnt aware that the restriction was across the board. What an immigration officer at DEL told me was that it was on account of David Headley, who was American, and made very frequent trips to India while on recon for terrorist groups, that all Americans were restricted from making very frequent visits.

I wonder how legit business people worked around it, when it existed. Does India have a separate business visa?

Mr. Bean

Yes, the rule only applied to T-type (tourist) visas. Actually, security issues had nothing to do with it, but some frequently brought it up as an excuse to keep it in place. The intention was more to prevent certain people (expats on tourist visas) from circumventing the visa stay duration restrictions by making side trips to nearby countries. Eventually, they granted waivers for genuine tourists (which, coincidentally, applied to the vast majority of people with T-visas), but I guess processing them became too cumbersome/silly and the rule was ultimately lifted.

DrVC

Will the new Visa-on-Arrival be implemented within next couple of weeks?

Almost surely it will be months but I am hoping that it is magically implemented in a couple of weeks as I need to travel to India on business in two weeks but have an expiring US passport with an OCI U visa that apparently needs to be renewed if I get a new passport based on my age :-(

GUWonder

Familiar with the jokes about Indian Standard Time?

The answer to your question: no way.

emcampbe

Even it it were to be available in two weeks, doubt this would help you. Current Visa on arrival is for tourists only - OCI's can't use it, as far as I can see.

As for your OCI in an older passport, my wife's OCI visa is glued in her old Canadian passport - its actually two or three passports ago. While you can apply to have the Visa changed to a newer passport, and it would be more convenient, it shouldn't be a problem as long as you ensure you get the old, cancelled/expired passport back and travel with that and the new one. My wife has never had a problem entering this way - just shows the current passport, her OCI booklet and points out that the actual Visa is glued in the old passport.

DrVC

Thank you for your prompt response, GUWonder! I'm not holding my breath for this but was just hoping for magic ;-)

DrVC

Thank you for your prompt response, emcampbe!

The "new" rules as of Feb 13 seem to indicate that the U in old passport will work for those in 20-49 years age bracket and if one has crossed 50 after the U was issued, a new U is required with new passport! It is possible this is not being enforced as long as the old passport with U and OCI booklet is shown with the new passport - was that your experience?

I will be greatly relieved if that's the case!

emcampbe

Ah, I didn't realize that. The wife (and I) are firmly within the 20-49 bracket, so didn't realize the changes.

Even without it, I have been trying to convince my wife for a couple of years to get it transferred over, so that she doesn't have to bring her old passport with her when traveling to India (which is actually stapled to another old passport, so its twice as big). With her passport expiring next year, hoping to get it done then, as Canada is finally issuing 10-year validity passports now. And hopefully BLS will have worked through its teething phase and can actually process things (somewhat) efficiently by then.

GUWonder

There are circumstances where the Indian government has hosted OCIs with diplomatic or official foreign government passports who are doing business in India such that Indian visas were granted in the foreign official and/or diplomatic passports.

Has anyone seen any Indian administrative legal guidance that prohibits OCIs from being issued tourist visas on arrival or any other types of visas? It would be news to me.

Mr. Bean

I have not. It does raise some questions, though. Prior to OCI (and even now), I know of people who have both tourist and business Indian visas. OCI, for purposes of entering the country, is another type of visa (coded U, or Universal). I don't know of anything that would prevent an OCI from getting another type of visa, but for what purpose? So that the OCI can enter India without disclosing OCI status? Is that even possible (even with OCI visa on a different passport)?

I guess this could be convenient for OCI's who left their visa in an old passport. Wondering about other possibilities, though

AA_EXP09

It already exists (I saw it for myself on a KUL-BOM flight at the gate-many of these pax were Malaysia/SIN passport holders that didn't need a visa in advance, as well as some PIO booklets.)

AA_EXP09

Too bad she didn't get it in the US passport (if she has one/is eligible for one) as now it is cheaper than the new Canadian one.

jasepl

A step in the right direction but it doesn't go far enough. I'd like to see visa requirements eliminated completely for the western hemisphere, Europe, the Pacific, and much of Asia east of Burma and much of the Indian Ocean south of Sri Lanka.

I'm afraid the whole thing is going to be an implementational fiasco, replete with queues and endless babudom.

An excellent middle ground will be an electronic visa. As it is the on-arrival thing is little more than a money grab and they're not running any great background checks while the applicant is waiting.

Why not have a simple website where you enter basic information and pay up front to get an authorisation. Simply show that to the immigrationwallah, who just needs to validate a couple of things, since the information's already there and the payment's already been collected. If someone's lied or doesn't meet the criteria, they can be denied entry and sent back, just like with a regular / on-arrival visa.

And the time between applying and arriving can be used by the authorities to do any background checks, if indeed they're interested or capable of doing it.


Also, for the love of God, can they please do away with those retarded immigration forms (that seem to have been designed by a JetChild) at least for citizens? Will it also be asking for too much for them to stop mutilating our passports with endless stamps?