knit-in

Something to talk about... India trying to appear "foreign tourist friendly".

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/i...w/23667475.cms

GUWonder

I am rather surprised even this much was approved. Good move, India.

The current account deficit certainly helped motivate change.

Richard1148

It could also be a result of the total incompetence of their newly appointed visa processor, BLS, which may be discouraging people from applying for a visa. There are scores of frustrated and angry people posting about BLS on Fodors.com.

Mr. Bean

Agreed, it's a good step. That said, i will wait to see what kind of fee schedule they attach to this. I would guess it will be similar to the fees for a 6 month visa (possibly with multiple entry)? I doubt they will grant 10-year multiple entry visas on arrival; wouldn't be shocked if they were single entry, either

Still, it's something

knit-in

Not sure if its still the case, but till recently, Americans without OCI were not allowed back into India within three months of leaving. From there to here is quite a leap!

jahason

Any news on whether this would be extended to citizens of one of the 40 countries but whose parents or grandparents originate from Pakistan, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka?

GUWonder

Around two weeks ago I was supposed to be in India and was going to personally complain to the External and Home Affairs ministers at a personal event. If it weren't for BLS, I probably wouldn't have cared to even think about complaining about this.

[I am glad to see that the paranoid types couldn't run over Montek Singh Ahluwalia and that Rahul Gandhi was on our side. ]

That said, this is about the money. It takes a lot for the politicians and bureaucrats to decide that the RAW and IB ("security") types and their apologists don't get in the way of sensible economic policy that serves India's national interests too.

GUWonder

That restriction on tourist visas was lifted earlier this year, months before Ahluwalia drove home the benefit of expanding the visa on arrival program as an export revenue driver to help narrow a current account deficit.

oliver2002

The current VoA procedure is a mess, I hope they institute something better.

Keyser

it wasn't just for americans but for anyone with a tourist visa....but thankfully they did away with that rule earlier this year....

Keyser

i would be surprised if they started rolling out long term visas on arrival & neither would it be surprising if the visa was single entry....but my guess would be that it would probably be a multiple entry visa & valid for up to a few months....

emcampbe

Quite likely could be this. Under Travisa, the old US visa processor, everything was easy, and there was a staffed call center to answer questions about documents, etc, which helped me to easily submit my application by courier a few years ago.

When I went to apply for a PIO in July from the US, just after BLS took over, it was a mess. Call center was not operating for several days, local numbers listed on their website were going to people's personal cell phones, etc. The only reason why I was able to get mine by the time I needed it was because, despite living in a midwestern city without a BLS office, I had a trip planned to New York where I could do it in person.

Even then it was a mess - while those applying for tourist visa's were in and out in a few minutes, there was one person handling PIO/OCI, and even with an appointment, I waited for 2.5 hours. People were yelling about not having their passports back from the transition, etc. Complete mess, and would never wish that process on anyone.

GUWonder

The BLS bungles aren't what has driven this change. It's about money. India has a current accounts deficit that is a very high priority for the government; and inflation worries related to that (including the inflation concerns related to the associated weak currency) have started freaking out the current batch of political office holders who are thinking about the next elections of relevance to their keeping their jobs and other perks.

GUWonder

Sri Lanka and other e-visas/ETAs/electronic reciprocity payment proof mechanisms in conjunction with an online application are what has been reported as being up for consideration.

The current visa-on-arrival scheme certainly can't handle even the potential shoulder season crowds from even just Canada, the US and the UK -- at least not without making for some ridiculously slow processing times.

oliver2002

I think of at least a dozen reasons why tourists don't consider flying to India. The visa issue is not on them.

Compared to HKG, SIN, Sri Lanka, Seychelles or Maledives, India is quite a big country with complex issues (see the complex differentiation of business and tourist visas) and a history of risk (David Headley) that would stop it from switching to a HK/SG style 'come to us and we just put a visa sticker/stamp in your passport!' system.