Enjoy Your Visit to Incredible India by Procuring Visa on Arrival
India is a land of natural beauties. The scenic beauty and diversities of natural resources attract many foreigners like you every year to enjoy the Indian essence for a certain period. As a foreign national, you need to possess a valid passport of your country and the authentic Indian Visa for entering the country. Although you can procure the visa before starting the journey, you can also opt for getting the visa upon your arrival. The citizens of the following countries can get the visa on arrival in India-
- Luxemburg, Mauritius, USA, UAE, Tong, Cook Islands, Fiji, Tuvalu, Germany, Israel, Laos, Indonesia, Brazil, Kiribati, Cambodia, Australia, Finland, Micronesia, Myanmar, Solomon Islands, Singapore, Russia, Philippines, Cook Islands, Japan, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Oman, Niue Island, Marshall Islands, Vanuatu, Vietnam.
Eligibility criteria
The purpose of your visit can be recreational vacations. You will be eligible to get the visa if your objective of the tour is sightseeing or you have planned a casual visit to meet some old friends and relatives in India. The visit can also be for a short-term for undergoing some special medical treatment. The informal business visit is also an eligibility criterion for procuring the visa on arrival. The validity of such a permit is for a minimum tenure of six months. The only relevant point is that you must possess the onward journey ticket or the return ticket along with enough money to sustain you for the entire stay period in India. But if you are an official passport holder or a Diplomatic Passport holder, you will not be eligible for the visa.
How to apply
You can apply online for the visa. You need to upload your passport size photo along with the scanned image of the passport first and last page. The payment of the visa amount is through the online mode of payment. You can use your debit or credit card to complete the payment without hassle. The electronic travel authorization of the visa will reach you over email correspondence. You can carry the ETA for flying to India. If you are coming from the eligible countries, you have to file the online application at least before four days from the date of your arrival in India. You have to keep a window of 30 days for adjusting the date of arrival.
Additional instructions
The photograph that you will be providing for the visa application must be a recent one. The background color should always be white. The passport page that you will upload should depict your name, nationality, date of birth, and expiry date. If you produce an unclear photograph or the uploaded document contains any discrepancy, your application will undergo rejection then and there. The standard fee for each passenger availing the tourist visa on arrival is fixed. You have to pay the fees four days before you are expecting to travel. Without the fees, the application will not undergo processing. But the fee is non- refundable once paid. You have to enter your biometric details compulsorily during the immigration check upon arriving in India.
Things to remember
The validity of the India Visa is for 30 days from the arrival date. The ETA or the Electronic Travel Authorization that you receive after filing the visa application will allow your entry in the country through only ten airports. The airports are-
- Chennai
- Bangalore
- Cochin
- Trivandrum
- Kolkata
- Goa
- Mumbai
- Delhi
- Hyderabad
- Madurai
The additional service is to support the existing facility for the visa grant. But you can avail this service for a maximum two times in one calendar year. On the issue of the visa, you cannot extend the stay period. The visa is non-convertible, and you cannot use the visa to enter any restricted and protected area or cantonment area. You can track the status of your application by clicking on the link leading to the visa status. You can call the Visa support center numbers any time 24*7. You can also send email to the official email id of the India Government.
Documents required
When you upload the scanned first page of the passport, the format must be PDF. The minimum size of the document must be 10 KB, and the maximum limit is 300 KB. Then you have to submit the photograph in digital format along with the application of the Visa. The format of the image must be JPEG with a minimum size of 10KB. The maximum size can be 1 MB. The width, as well as the height, should be equal. The photograph must depict your full face from the front view with your eyes open. The center of the head must be inside the frame. Your full head should be visible from the hair to the tip of the chin. A light colored background can do instead of the white background. There must be no shadow falling on your face or the background. No need to provide any border to the photograph.
Post immigration
After clearing through the formalities of immigration, you have to proceed t receive your luggage at the designated conveyor belt. You can clear the customs check through two channels.
- The Green Channel – If you are not carrying any dutiable products.
- The Red Channel – If you are carrying some taxable commodity.
You should not try to walk through the Green Channel if you know that you possess any product for which you have to pay the duty tax. It is better to declare whatever you are carrying at the beginning to avoid further harassment. Avoid carrying goods that are prohibited. The penal provision has the right to confiscate the assets that you possess illegally.
Immigration checking
You have to undergo the immigration check both during the entry and exit to and from India. You must fill up the arrival card on your entry into the country. Fill up your name and sex correctly along with the proper date of birth, and visa details. You must also mention the purpose of visit.