India E-Visa Nightmare - please tell me your experiences and hopefully make me feel better!

[BloodyVisa]

Turns out I have cocked up by putting 'writer' as my profession. I got a response back within 12 hours asking me to 'furnish' with details. I do occasional, very occasional, copywriting and editing on a freelance basis so cannot provide the list of previous employment as requested. I have sent as much information as I can, but have heard nothing.

This was on the 18th Dec. We fly on the 24th Jan (it's me and a friend, purely a holiday). I cannot get a response from the India visa help email, and the phone number just rings and rings.

I know the time of year might not help, but how long is it likely to be before I get a yes or a no, and how long is it till I can try again? Can I even try again?

I know I can Google too but most responses seem to point towards getting a Visa via an agency but surely this will be the same situation, and I can't change the 'profession' part this time round without it looking dodgy. I have wanted to contact the Indian Embassy in Birmingham but my browser said the site is impersonating another site and not to click onto it!

Is this normal as I am not flying for a while? My friend had her visa confirmed within 24 hours. I am not a stress-head generally but this is proving very stressful indeed!

Ok firstly breathe! They do it to many people including me. You email them back with more information including categorically stating you are visiting for tourism purposes only.

Different profession but I had 5 days of backwards and forwards questions then mine was issued.

They are probably closed for Christmas currently, like many countries with multiple religions they use any excuse for government departments to be shut!

And ps, next time I'm listing myself as a housewife!

OP I've had the e-visa issued successfully quite a few times now and never used an agency. You should be fine, and you've got time to sort this - don't panic! Wait until the 2nd of Jan and try again.

You are not visiting professionally, just for tourism purposes right? So emphasise that and you should be fine.

Best of luck!

Thank you for the replies! I did emphasise it was purely for a holiday, plus I did not use the word ‘journalist’ which appears to be more of a red flag. So a long wait isn’t necessarily unusual then? My friend got hers so quickly that I assumed that was normal.

I found the below posts on Reddit too which got me worrying more. I wish I’d just put bloody housewife now too!!

DH had to give information about his military service, but it all went through OK after a few days of to and fro. We found them very quick to reply to queries, so I agree wait until everything is open again.

Excellent - this sounds more promising. As it's a busy time for people to be travelling to Mumbai (or is Mumbai always busy?) and places like Goa, I wasn't sure if there would be any closing of departments for Christmas or not (or just for the end of the year.)

So, am I right in assuming that if they need or want more info, they will email at some point rather than just decline the application? It honestly feels like it'd be more straight forward to get a visa for North Korea!

Always a nightmare
I had to get a 1 day passport last week in order to be able to get the Visa in time

The whole process is ridiculous- there is no clear explanation and it is very bureaucratic- at least the e Visa are back- I had to cancel my last trip as couldn't get a Visa appointment and no e Visa.

However slow it is - it is robust and you should hear back

Can you get an in person appointment? There were loads available last week?

I haven't tried to get an in-person appointment yet as I am not sure what is happening with the original application. That is the next step IF I need it (the nearest place is Birmingham but the link to the website is apparently dodgy, according to my iPhone and laptop!)

I agree the whole process is ridiculous. I am well travelled and have never had issues like this before. I am relieved to hear it is robust though, even if it seems to be the absolute opposite - even the websites are atrocious! I was using the on-line virtual chat thing to find out the status of my visa, inputted both my application ID number and passport number only for it to respond with 'is there anything else I can help you with?' I clicked 'yes' and the response was then in Russian!

Bonkers.

getting an Indian Visa is one of the most stressful things I’ve ever done - getting the children’s ones was the worst as everything had to be signed by their dad, who was already in India. Then there were numerous issues over delivery as we were out when the courier came and they vanished not saying when they would return. work wanted me to travel somewhere and did not take it very kindly when I explained I couldn’t because I had no passport because they were with it was with the Indian embassy and I had no idea when it would be returned. It all came alright in the end but I aged about 15 years. good luck.

Oh god!!!

It sounds like my experience is relatively bland.

The visa has landed!!! In fact, they sent it four times.

Thank you for the reassuring messages. If I ever go again, I’ll know better next time!