Tourist visa for India predicament

[CherubEarrings]

Just read that you can only apply 30 days before you travel and it can be denied if you make a mistake but by that time already paid for holiday.
Any advice? I cannot afford to make mistakes as will only ever have the opportunity once due to age and finances.

You can buy an annual one - more expensive but a better margin for error.

Are you eligible for the visa on arrival?

Applying for a visa for India is a PITA. I used to do DH's budiness visa applications when he used to travel there for work.

The website was awful and I ended up with about 6 tabs open.

We have used Visa Genie a couple of times, and their service was excellent. It was well worth paying extra and we received the visas within a few days.

You have to travel within 30 days of applying for visa but you pay for your holiday 56 days before...

Was this for India? Do you know how much they charged?

What are you all talking about? It’s so easy! You just fill out the Indian evisa form. It’s quick and simple and comes through via email normally the next day. Latest I’ve ever got mine is three days after applying. It’s only 40USD. My husband is Indian and I do this all the time when I go to visit his family. Indiavisaonline.gov.in/evisa

You can get a visa valid for a month, a year, or 5 years. I’ve never got the 5 year one because I renew my passport less than this usually due to traveling a lot. But the year-long visa is the same price as the month-long - 40USD.

Please feel free to message me if you need any help with this, I have done it so many times. I just got back from India a few days ago and applied for my evisa in July, it came through the next day, next week we were off! I now have a valid visa for a year.

You’ve not all been doing it the old fashioned way and filling out paper forms and going up to the Indian visa centre and stuff? Surely? I didn’t even know that was still possible? The only thing that comes up online for me is the evisa option when I search!

I just looked at their website, and it's £72. I was so paranoid about making a mistake on the Indian Embassy website and risk having to pay twice if I cocked up, that I was happy to pay to offload the stress!

It's really not that hard and you are highly unlikely likely to not get in...as long as you aren't from Pakistan I think based on the questions on the form. Came back within 24 hrs.

I went to a "visa for India" place in my city. Not UK. Strait forward when you have all the info, passport photos etc.

If you're going on a group travel holiday - I went solo - do they not have that kind of service to do it for you?

Following with interest. Planning to visit again next year. I've spent the last 20 years visiting India and each time the visa application has been a fucking nightmare

Have to admit, I was thinking this, but I haven't been for a while!

• Open this: https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/evisa/
• Scroll down to ‘e-tourist visa’
• Select duration of visa (1 month, 1 year, 5 years)
• Fill out personal info. Input estimated arrival date (don’t need flights booked first)
• You have to fill out one place you will stay - if you haven’t booked, just put the address of a hotel you’ve been looking at and are planning to book
• Upload a photo (we literally took on our phone against a white background)
• Pay $40, submit the form
• The next day, or no more than 3 days later, your tourist visa will come via email to confirm it’s been accepted
• Go back to the evisa website to print your visa confirmation (it will have your picture and all details on it. Just print on normal A4 paper and take it with you when you fly)
• Get off the plane and they’ll stamp your passport which will be your new visa!

Probably the easiest and cheapest tourist visa I’ve ever got!

Do it online. Takes a day. I've done it recently - no bother.

The problem is if you make a mistake you could have your visa denied.

Also no matter how long your visa is for you can only apply for the visa 30 days before travel.

Don’t know if this is the case for tourist visa but it is for business visa, but be aware that the email you get confirming your visa is NOT your visa (as it is for many other countries), instead you have to go back on the website and download and print your visa to show upon entry.

I went to the Indian Consulate in Birmingham to get mine.
It is filled in there on the day and issued.
This was quite a few years ago.

Don’t think that’s the case for the tourist visa.

OP, if it makes you feel better, I thought I would get in trouble because I had an Indian passport which had expired but I had lost it and not turned it into the Indian embassy as you are meant to when you get citizenship of another country (you automatically lose your Indian citizenship at that point because India does not allow dual nationality). When I first applied for an Indian visa, I honestly answered I had visited India before but then put down my Indian passport number because I didn’t have an earlier visa number. I wrote a whole longwinded explanation to the consulate but TBH it was not needed, the visa was approved super quickly.

I didn’t know about the only applying 30 days before you travel rule but I think unless you have Pakistani heritage, there are unlikely to be any issues. The website is old as anything but it’s not that much more arduous a process than a US ESTA.

I recently applied for a one-year visa, more than 30 days ahead of entry. It was very simple to do online and was granted the following day.

You are getting too stressed about this. If you are prone to making mistakes get someone to check over the information before you submit it. Even in the minuscule chance you still make a mistake and end up with a denied visa you'll have plenty of time to sort it if you apply at the 30 day mark because the turn around time is very short.

The 30 day thing is wrong for the evisa! I usually get mine earlier because I like to be prepared, for small kids and am a worrier/planner!

Apply now for the visa if you’re worried and want to check it out first. It’s literally only $40, so if you make a mistake you’ll only lost $40! Book the flights after to give yourself peace of mind.

Honestly it would be so hard to make a mistake on that form. It’s a very, very simple form. Just literally fill out your personal details. If you manage to make a mistake and don’t notice then worst case scenario is you get an email tomorrow to tell you, and just fill out the form more carefully tomorrow. You’ll lose $40.

When I wasn’t sure whether they’d accept photos I took on my own phone, I just submitted and paid for my own visa application first, didn’t do the kids just in case, so I didn’t lose too much money if it was wrong. Next day, when I got confirmation that it was fine, I submitted the kids. You could just do this to reassure yourself that the 30 day thing is wrong?

Unless you’re from Pakistan, or have visited there this year, you won’t have a problem. We have had many friends and family do this form to come and stay with us in our house out there and nobody has ever had a problem.

For the one-year visa, you can apply up to 120 days in advance.

Sounds like you are running into the 30 day issue because you are applying for the one month visa — don’t do that. Apply for the 1 year one instead, will give you much more peace of mind.

They are pretty relaxed on what photos they accept, the biggest issue my husband and I had was compressing the file size enough (and listing all the countries we had visited but that’s probably not being asked for our silly arguments about if we should list Vatican City separately).

What mistakes do you anticipate making that you're scared about? Surely this is the case for anything, you check all your details before clicking send on any form

Yes, apply for the 1 year visa! It’s literally the same price!