BOM Transit - Visa Question
 

Hi everybody!

I have scoured the web and made phone calls, but can not find a definitive answer to the following:

My wife and I will be traveling in a couple weeks from ICN - BOM on Korean Airways. We have three hours in BOM to connect to a BOM - DAR flight on Qatar Airways. Our Korean and Qatar tickets were booked separately.

So, the question is: do we need an Indian transit visa for this or not. Some say "yes definitely," others say "absolutely not."

I would actually rather just go ahead and get the visa just to be safe, but between now and when we leave, we are in Indonesia for a week, then Saigon for three days, then Seoul for two days, and I can't find any information if US/Canadian nationals can get Indian visas that quickly in any of these places.

Thank you so much in advance for any advice you may have... this one is hard to figure out!

Normally it's not needed, but since you're on separate tickets, you might have to get one if you check luggage, as you'll most likely have to claim and re-check it.

Maybe they can rush it in a week in Indonesia; I'm not really sure.

If you don't have any checked luggage then you technically don't need a transit visa, but you'll wish you had one if you misconnect. Not sure if they grant emergency transit visas in BOM, if that becomes necessary.

First of all, you will not be allowed for BOM by KE as you do not have a visa. QR tickets are considered as seperate bookings ex-India. :confused:

You will need transit visa:

1. You certainly have to pass immigration as you will have to check-in with QR airport side desk located on 2nd floor.

2. You cannot use air-side transit as you have 2 seperate tickets, and are considered as pax travelling ex-India.

3. Air-side transit is generally designed for people booked on through tickets via BOM.

India is usually strict with Visas, and are never issued on arrival.

This is the best answer especially for #1 above.
Get your transit visa.

+1, on my recent trip to DEL, the check-in agent ex SYD checked my passport for a valid Indian Tourist Visa before my boarding pass was issued, thus what LH757 is correct, as KE can refuse boarding. Most likely what you need is a "Transit Visa".
http://www.vfs-in-au.net/transit.html This is from an Australian website, but this most likely fits your description of 2 seperate tickets. ^ cheers

The OP does not need a visa unless he needs to exit the airport. Staff can arrange for check-in airside. This will be much easier if not travelling with checked luggage, though it may be do-able even with checked luggage.

KE should not deny boarding since the OP is transiting and a visa is not necessary to transit in BOM. The best thing to do would be to ask them to interline the bags through to DAR at check-in in ICN.

I agree with you, however the only concern is the OP is travelling on two seperate tickets, if it was on a single ticket than I guess nothing to worry about, otherwise it's best to re-confirm with KE, rather than have problems during check in. As the previous posters have suggested they might need to collect baggage and re-check it, if KE does not interline, and hence then they may need to clear immigration. If the OP does not have checked baggage, I am sure BOM would have facilities to stay airside & connect with QR ??

Will KE be issuing your QR boarding passes? If not, then you might have to collect your luggage at BOM and then get your QR boarding passes issued. You will definitely require a visa. Visa on arrival is available to nationals of a few countries - Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore.

You absolutely DO NOT require a visa regardless of how many tickets you are traveling on. You will also struggle for time to clear immigration, collect luggage, clear customs, head back upstairs, checkin again, clear immigration, clear security and board your next flight if you choose to go landside.

In contrast, you can head directly for the international transfers desk (there is NEVER a line there and it is very well signposted) where your boarding pass can be issued in 30 seconds flat and then to the dedicated security checkpoint just beyond. If your bags are checked through, you can be at your next flight departure gate within 2-3 minutes of disembarking your inbound. If they are not checked through, give your tag numbers to the staff and they will make the necessary arrangements to retag the bags.

The question is whether KE check-in staff would allow the OP to board the flight to BOM at all. I would guess this depends on the discretion of duty manager there.

Recently I was in a 'similar' situation. I was travelling from KUL to DXB on EK with a pre-arranged 96 hour UAE visa. I was to leave UAE after 4 days. When I gave them my outbound ticket, the check-in staff at KUL analyzed and found out that I was leaving UAE after 98 hours. So, they almost refused to board me to DXB. (They even refused to consider the fact that I could have arranged for a different ticket to leave well before 96 hours).

The question is whether he requires a visa. The answer is NO, he does not require a visa.

Whether he may be hassled by the airline at boarding is an entirely different question and the honest answer is that even with a visa he might be hassled by the airline for a thousand different reasons! :)

Hi there, not having a go at you but just asking for future reference, if we do not have an Indian Visa is there a process in place to clear immigration/customs? I guess if we can show the immigration officer/s the onward connecting flight tickets, that departs within the next 2-3 hours, they might flex??
cheers^

Flexibility on the part of immigration officer = Nil.

Emergency visas can be arranged in VERY limited circumstances but will require the airline to sponsor them and other hoops jumped through. Do not consider this option.

If you have a flight departing within 2-3 hours, you do not need to clear immigration - just proceed to the International Transfer desk and let the staff there sort everything out for you. There are dozens if not hundreds of passengers who do this daily.

The OP Here
 

Wow, thank you all SO MUCH for the in-depth answers -- Try as I might, I could not get this info anywhere else, so thank you FT'ers!

So, it seems like the definitive answer is: we DO NOT in reality need a transit visa, however Korean Air may think we do and stop us from boarding.

I'd like to get the transit visa as insurance, but from my phone calls to various Indian consulates and high commissions where I will be before India (Indonesia 5 days, Saigon 3 days, Seoul 2 days), there is apparently no way to get a transit visa that fast.

I guess it will be up to the manager on duty at Korean Air that night in Seoul. Perhaps I will print this thread out for evidence that it's ok. :-)

Thanks again, everyone (and PLZ let me know if you know how to get an Indian transit visa in any of the above cities in the time I have)...

My experience is that going to the visa section of any country in person and stating simply that you need a visa within "x" days (provided "x" is not unreasonable - like demanding a visa for travel the next morning) will usually get you the visa as quick as possible. Indian visas CAN be processed overnight, so asking for next day service is not a stretch. Offering to pay a "surcharge" (official or unofficial) also helps sometimes. Look up the name of the Head of Visa Section ("First Secretary - Consular" might be the title) and ask to speak to them directly - you probably won't get that far but name dropping ALWAYS helps.

Don't forget to interline your luggage - politely explain to the KE check-in staff that you are travelling beyond BOM to DAR on QR and give them the reservation details. I assume they would have interline agreements, being major airlines.

you definitely DO NOT need a visa just for a change in airlines....

hmmm...wanted to know if u had done this before.this maybe a bit trciky though I have not done this ever as I am an Indian citizen..

As an Indian citizen myself, I've also never had this issue but I actually saw a Bangladeshi with this very issue this morning at BOM - he had arrived from somewhere in the Gulf on one of the LCCs and was connecting to Dhaka on Jet Airways. They sorted him out at the transfer desk (it took about 30 minutes of phonecalls and running around but it got done). Amused me to watch while I waited for my EK flight to board.

Yes, I've heard from a friend (who experienced it) that it works without a transit visa, but a painful process. Never had to face the problem myself, though, like many others posting on this thread.

hmmm.. good to know this.. was not aware of this..^
As u said there may be some hassles but atleast there is an option of this..:cool:

No VISA for transit, if you are not going to clear immigration.

Further India has VISA on arrival for some countries.

I've got a great award ticket for next week:
MSP-NRT-SIN on DL Business
SIN-BOM on 9W Business
Actually I need to go to CMB but can't get there via India or on MH. So I plan to buy a OW ticket from BOM-CMB.
So it will be on a separate ticket. Called 9W to confirm this is OK, it'll be 9W-to-9W transfer at BOM, with 4 hours 10 minutes transit time. Was told "if it's more than 4 hours you need a transit visa."
True or False?
Will I be allowed to check in at the Jet Airways counter in SIN with these 2 separate tickets and a 4h10m connection time?
Thanks for any help!
I do have a backup award using CO miles but this is a really nice one....

You do not need a visa to transit as long as you show the ticket to KE agents at ICN. Just make sure you do not check a bag as that would be the only complicating thing.

You would be better off changing your SIN-BOM award to a SIN-MAA-CMB (all 9W) award - it should be for the same number of miles.

So this thread has been in hiatus for a while. I booked a flight with IndiGo, which apparently is now offering INTL-INTL connections both through BOM and DEL.

So I booked a flight from BKK to DXB through BOM with a 1H45min layover. The booking is made on a single PNR with 2 flight segments (BKK-BOM & BOM-DXB). I called IndiGo and they said that my luggage would be checked all the way through. However, their terms have recently been changed (looks like it changed since I booked) to this:

10.2 In cases where the Customer undertakes travel on the Connected Segments, at the time of check-in, the Baggage of such connecting Customers will have to be collected at the end of each leg and re-checked again. The Customers will be provided with two boarding cards - one for the flight taken from the point of origin till the point of transit and other from the point of transit until the final destination.

So I will have a boarding pass for both flights - also when I arrive in BOM, but what about my luggage. If they don't transfer my luggage, I will have to do it myself and that would require me to go through immigration thus requiring a visa - or??

What do you people say?

if i was in your place i would just get a transit visa to be on the safe side....

I am considering this. However, transit visa are only valid for 15 days. I won't be in Denmark 15 days up to the short stop in BOM. I will be in London until 11 days before arrival in India, but here they'd require 6 days processing of the visa (as I am a foreigner in the UK).

I agree with Keyser that it's better to be safe and get a transit visa.

Regarding your itinerary, why not apply for a tourist visa in Denmark now? If you have a tourist visa, you won't need a transit one.

I did look at this, but then I get a little cheap. Getting a tourist visa is not cheap and the visa in total will almost cost me (about 70 USD) the same as the flight. A little stupid since I have been told both by the airline and the Embassy that I won't need one.

A transit visa is not free. It might be worth it to pony up the little extra money and get a tourist visa for peace of mind. I would get the visa, but it's your call.

One thing to keep in mind is that you generally don't want to trust the governments of developing countries. If for whatever reason you are stuck in BOM, the passport control officer will show you no pity if you say that some embassy told you that you did not need a visa.

baa, don't worry bee happy

Even if you get it from the embassy in writing, signed, stamped, notarized, whatever, the immigration officer still might give you a hard time.

And even if they let you through in the end, that delay might cause you to miss your connecting flight. As the T&Cs say, you'll have to buy a walk-up ticket in that case.

The way 6E is trying to sell these 6th freedom tickets, it's probably easier and less stressful to book with someone else. And possibly cheaper too once you factor in visa, customs duty, possible walk-up ticket, etc. etc.:D

OK, just an update.

I have now checked with a supervisor with IndiGo customer service and they could confirm from the airport manager and management, that I do NOT need to worry about my luggage in Mumbai. Turns out section 10.2 applys to domestic flights and is not updated with regards to international flights.

They also gave me the number to IndiGo at Mumbai airport and I spoke with the staff and I was told I do not need to pick it up in Mumbai, but I will have to identify my luggage next to the staircase when boarding for Dubai. The plane I arrive on from BKK is actually the same plane that will take me to Dubai.

We'll see how it goes :)