Indian E Visa Everything You Need to Know

One of the most amazing countries to visit in Asia, India, as many say, is beyond any explanation. Although every travel enthusiast already has plans to visit India sooner or later, there are a few things you need to know about first. The most important thing you need to take care of before travelling is permission to travel wherever you want to (Especially for International Travel).

To make things easy for tourists, the Indian government replaced the special visa-on-arrival policy in India with the India tourist e-visa in November 2014. The Indian tourist visa consists of three categories, namely:

·         E-Tourist Visa

·         E-Business Visa

·         E-Medical Visa

When compared with planning the schedule of your journey and searching for all the exciting places you need to visit, going through the strenuous procedure of obtaining the visa might seem to be difficult for you. Ignoring all the myths about the visa procedure, you need to know that obtaining the new tourist visa is quite simple for which you don't even have to leave the luxury of your home. Here are the steps you need to follow to ensure you successfully complete the visa application process:

1. Checking Your Eligibility

There are two things you need to check. Firstly, you must be a citizen of one of the various countries or territories which are eligible to apply for the Indian e-visa. Secondly, you have to see that the airport where you land on is one of the various airports listed as an eligible online Indian Visa entry point. You can easily find both the list of countries and airports as they are available online on multiple websites.

As the Indian Tourist E Visa doesn't allow you to visit India for employment purpose and for volunteering in NGO activities, your sole purpose of visiting India shall be either visiting friends, relatives, or recreational activities such as sightseeing and tours. Your passport should also have at least six months of validity and two blank pages, which the Immigration Officer needs for stamping. Another thing important for your India tour is that you must have a return/onward journey ticket as well as enough money to support you throughout your tour of India. Once you know you are eligible for applying, you can proceed to the next step.

2. Preparing Documents and Information

As having the documents ready beforehand can shorten the online process, you should have all the necessary information prepared. The required documents include a scanned bio page of your passport in a .pdf file format and a recent digital passport photo of yours with a maximum size of 1MB. 

Additional information includes the hotel details where you'll stay (Address, Contact Number, etc.). Hotel details are necessary for filling out the "References in India" section on the online application. You need to mention three other things in your application which are as follows:

·         The date of your entry and exit in India

·         Point of Entry in India (Airport)

·         Debit Card, Credit Card or PayPal account

3. The Application

As the procedure is easy and not at all time consuming, rather than using the help of any intermediary or agent, you should handle the procedure yourself. After visiting the e-visa website, you need to click on the "e-visa application" option. You will see a short form on the screen which you will have to fill out. Start with checking the box beside "e-Tourist Visa" and then "Recreation/Sightseeing". In the next page, you should fill all your personal information, passport details, contact details, family details, visa details, purpose details, occupation details, references, etc. All these sections are rather straightforward, and thus don't need much application.

Once you finish filling all the information, you will have to save the details and continue to the next page, where you have to upload your photo and passport's bio page. As you finish this process, note down the unique auto-generated application ID. As soon as you upload the documents and photographs, you are one step away from obtaining your visa.

4. Fee Payment

Online payment isn't a thing of the past and, you might be familiar with it for sure. You can choose the payment option which is most suitable for you and then proceed to pay the fees with a debit card, credit card or PayPal.

There are no fix rates for the fee payment as it varies for all countries. The banks deduct an additional 2.5 percent charge, which along with the fees, is non-refundable.

Once you finish the online application, you will receive the online visa within 72 hours.