Indian Visa

[Stuckinthemiddle1990]

Posting for traffic

Trying to arrange my MILs visa for a trip to India early next. The travel company have recommended a company to arrange it, but after seeing the application and all the send this, we send that, we need this....oh and will charge £100 for the privilege, I was just wondering if there is a simpler way??

Has anyone recently applied and how did they do it?

TIA

We did ours online on the embassy website

Yes apply via the Embassy
www.hcilondon.gov.in/page/general-visa-information/

You have to go in person now.

@marcopront

Would that be at the embassy or a Visa Application Centre?

Going in person is the quickest and easiest but it's still a major pain in the arse.

I am going next year and have received information from my travel company.
As you say, you can do it through an agency. If you want to do it in person, you need to contact Services.vfsglobal.com/gbr/en/ind/attend-centre

The information I have received is that it takes up to 7 weeks to get an appointment, then 2 weeks processing time.

Visa application centre, I believe.

I'm not in the UK so trying to work out how to do it in a country where people can apply online when I can't.

Through an agency probably is the simplest way, but they will charge you for the privilege. I think it costs £50-60 to do it yourself. You say she's going early next year, so just make sure you read up on the visa validity period. This is the amount of time you have between the visa issue date and the expiry date. She has to enter the country within that time or the visa is invalid.

You now need to go in person

@Marigoldandivy

Thankyou. Just had a look for appointments and they haven't released any appointments for December yet.

@Planesmistakenforstars she flies on the 15th March. They have told her she can apply from November 🤷‍♀️ something about having so many days left on it when she LEAVES India.

Apparently the rules around Indian tourist visas have recently changed and the UK no longer has access to e-visas. The only options now are to use an agency or to go to the high commission in person. People are cancelling trips let, right and centre, and some tour operators are offering alternative destinations.

Read The Times and The Telegraph for coverage of the new in-person ONLY system from UK. It's causing problems, to say the least, so I would be paying for specialist advice.

There are no e-visas for the UK at the moment.

Assuming it is a tourist visa you want, you have to fill in the form online at https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/index.html. You have to select the visa type according to how long you want to stay, and it is 'activated' when you arrive. So if you have a month visa you will have a month to stay after the date you arrive in India.

Then you have to book an appointment a visa centre; www.hcilondon.gov.in/appointment_home/

At the moment the demand for appointments is outstripping the availability. New appointments are released at 19:30 each evening so you can try then. I would advise that you book it in advance and wait til you get the visa back before booking any flights etc.

When you go, you take your application form, two visa size photos (can get at many photobooths), passport, photocopy of passport, print out of appointment confirmation, and be ready to pay for it there. No credit cards accepted. It is posted back to you at home within a few weeks.

Make sure your passport is valid for a minimum of 180 days at the time of entry into India and has 2 blank pages for the visa.

Any questions, pm me, I do this all the time.