Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, France, Germany, Mexico, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Vietnam are up for consideration to be added to the list of countries whose nationals can get a visa on arrival in India.

As of this year, India's visa on arrival program is available to nationals of Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore.

It seems to be not getting that much use currently. That's sort of a given when not-even 5% of visitors to India are nationals of the above 5 countries; when even only a bit more than 5% of such nationals are using it; and the program is so new in terms of its going live in India (and most visitors got their Indian visas because of the lack of clarity/confidence in terms of what would happen on arrival and when).

At least 25% of foreign visitors arriving into India's two largest airports are UK or US citizens, so if anything I expect that UK and US citizens will be amongst the last OECD countries' nationals added to India's visa on arrival roster for at least reasons related to volume of UK and US citizens visiting India.

India needs and I feel is correct in having tight immigration norms.. specially since it has employment and security problems of its own.. just see our neighbours on ALL sides of India and u will understand why most want to take something away from India..
The foreign minister IIRC is on record telling tht the visa on arrival will be reviewed and given mostly to those countries with which India can get reciprocal possibilities.. Its not that India gives them visa on arrival access and Indians are subject to lengthy rules regarding the same...

Reciprocity is usually a precondition of granting such visas. Given that the German embassy in India has rather more stringent schengen issuing rules than other schengen countries .. not sure how they will extend reciprocity

Of those Schengen countries whose citizens are already offered visas on arrival in India, none of them ordinarily offer visa on arrival for Indian tourists resident in India.

Does any schenzen country have visa on arrival facilities when arriving in India ?? I thought that currently it was only for few countries and most are in Asia Pac region except Luxembourg but I am not aware of any other european country.. Luxembourg.. hmmm.. hv never heard of indians applying for tourist / business visas from Luxembourg

Luxembourg has far more secretive banks than switzerland does - you'd probably find a lot of the richest indians going there, and they're hardly likely to stand in line for visas themselves

I see a possibility with Argentina (currently requires a fee-free visa for Indians to enter Argentina). The rest... we'll see what they can negotiate. Would be great if they could extend the same to O"C"I's, too

When I applied for an Argentinan visa (2008) they wanted all kinds of crazy stuff - like an affidavit signed by a notary stating the reason I was going there, if it was a business visa, an endorsement from the local chamber of commerce, etc. All enforced by an indian visa clerk sitting in the basement of a two story villa - probably the ambassador's official residence.

Yeah, the Argentine posts in the US want in-person interviews, too, for granting visas (not just for Indian nationals). Wonder if this could change. Argentina does allow visa/reciprocity fee on arrival for many countries.

Was it more or less painful than getting a US or UK visa issued in India?

If I'm not mistaken, Argentina does not charge any fee for Indians to get an Argentine tourist visa, and India does not charge Argentines any fee for a tourist visa. Both countries currently require prospective tourists to apply for a visa in advance of their travels. Everyone I've known to need an Indian visa issued in Argentina has either themselves gone to the Indian government office in Buenos Aires or were facilitated by way of being connected to the government(s).

Of the Schengen countries, only Luxembourg and Finland currently have their nationals entitled to visa on arrival in India.

I cannot recall ever running into any ordinary Indian citizen who has visited Luxembourg's representative facility in Delhi, and mind you I've been a frequent visitor even to the compound that has a building being used to represent Monaco in India.

couldn't agree more....

Neither the US nor the UK ask for notarized affidavits for visa applications to attend a conference. You go there with your plane ticket, a letter of invitation from the organizers (and/or just the conference registration fee printout), a letter from your employer .. travel insurance for the schengen countries. And of course about six months worth of bank statements, three years of tax returns etc, sigh .. I hate leaving copies of that around in embassies, to be later trashed and dug out by dumpster divers and ID thieves, no doubt.

The argentinian visa clerk had that "indian govt department clerk" type attitude, including, for example, insisting that the handwritten declaration I got sealed by a notary wasnt acceptable, I had to get it typewritten before being endorsed. And then telling me "do what I say or you can apply for six months and not get a visa all". Even when I kept telling the guy it was a conference organized by the argentinian government that I'd been invited to.

This after I'd had to fly to Delhi to apply personally for this. I flew back to MAA, told the conference organizers to sort it out with their colleagues in the Delhi embassy. After which my visa suddenly came through with far less pain, notwithstanding that visa clerk.

Something I have also faced in European countries.. they ask for blah blah blah.. then they get a call and the visa comes much easier...