Applying for an Entry Visa to India
 

Anyone know how to apply for an Entry Visa to India?

All the embassy and consulate websites ask for an online application to be made at https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/ and then download the filled out application and print it, sign it and send it via post to the appropriate consulate serving your area with the relevant documents. The problem however is that the application page at https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/Registration has now been down for two weeks. I have reached out via all possible channels - Pravasi Mitra, Consulate Query submission on website, Twitter, FB and even called them up but no one seems to have any answers. All responses from online channels are sending a canned response back which describes the process that I have described above but no one seems to address my concern about the website not working and providing an alternative way to apply for the visa. And on the phone all I get is an automated menu and I have yet been unable to speak to a human after trying for 4+ hours across the last couple of days. All consulates in a thousand mile radius do not allow walk-ins for anything (including enquiries) and are only accepting visa applications online.

I had been relaxed all this while as I had a lot of time for my travel and thought that it might be a technical glitch that will be fixed soon but as I am not travelling in ten days I am getting tensed. Anyone have any idea on how to apply for the visa or any alternate channels using which I can contact the relevant consulate.

Any help or ideas will be appreciated.

(An Entry Visa is a separate category that allows for longer stays up to 5 years and is only available to people who can show a direct relationship with an Indian citizen. This is different from the Tourist Visa and any other category of Visa. Currently the Indian Govt. allows granting of Entry Visas to eligible applicants for deaths in the family and for medical reasons)

India hasn't started issuing tourist visas yet post COVID. The offline application form is probably the govts highly sophisticated method of preventing new applicants while tourist visas are suspended. Regular tourist flights are set to resume on Nov 15th, so the form should be back online some time before then.

The embassy in DC has this page with instructions on how to apply for the visa types they are still issuing, https://www.indianembassyusa.gov.in/extra?id=79. The steps should be the same for your embassy.

where are you located????

there is a good chance the website is down on purpose since the indian government hasn't started issuing visas yet....

I've been told by the London embassy it's just offline until they're ready to accept. So 15th November.

Well the eVisa is still down so not sure. The embassy now told me 15th November as I'm not a private charter.

But I then asked so if I was a private charter - how would I apply for eVisa when the page is not working anyway. And they couldn't answer.

So again I'll now wait to middle of November to see what is happening.

CGI Munich sends you to : https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/

This Evisa form works https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/evisa/Registration

So here is a quick update on my situation, which I am hoping might help others in the same situation.

If the online application form isn't working for you then try from another browser or even a different device. After trying different browsers on the same laptop and then trying another laptop as well I for the heck of it tried from my phone and it worked.. Filling out the form on the phone wasn't pretty but it worked.. It also helped that you can partly fill the form and come back to complete it later which I had to do since the passport photo that needs to be uploaded wasn't on my phone.

TLDR; try different browsers and devices and hopefully the online visa application will work.

Ha ha.. I have had various such encounters. Welcome to the club. However the paper visa application process for Entry Visas is working as long as you can make a good enough case for yourself in the cover letter that you submit. Tourist Visa applications are currently still suspended even though technically people can fly in on a charter. I hope the online Tourist Visa application comes online at least by the end of this month so that it gives people two weeks before they are scheduled to fly in starting the 15th of November.

Also if you think about it, if you can afford a charter flight to India, you probably have enough connections to get in touch with somebody at your local embassy or consulate and they will figure something out for you. All consulates and embassies across the world were processing emergency visa requests on a case-by-case basis so they would probably process yours as well.

The charter flights allowed in right now are the low cost Thomson holidays type package tours, not bitcoin billionaires chartering private jets. These charter/package tour groups make up a big chunk of the tourist traffic in places like Goa. The travel company arranging the package tour takes care of getting visas, so you don't need to visit any GOI online form.

Is that the way things are being handled in these extraordinary current times?

Or is the suggestion that tour companies organising seats on charter flights and resort accommodation routinely arrange visas for them for their customers?
That would, indeed, be extraordinary :eek:

I was able to apply for an eTourist Visa a couple of days ago. They approved it in less than 24 hours. The eTourist Visa is good for a 30 day visit and must be used within 120 days from the date of issue.

Do you know if the visa is single or double entry