Claudia Lizeth

Probably the first thing that comes to your mind while reading this, is why would anyone go to all the trouble to get an India tourist visa while a tourist Evisa or e-Tourist visa is an easy peasy? There are 5 year Evisas, 1 year Evisas, 30-day Evisas and now 10-year Evisas for tourism. My own parents got a 30-day e-Tourist visa for India.

The answer is simple: The e-Tourist visa has limitations.

One : For any long term Evisa, you need to leave India every 3 months and come reenter.

Two: You can’t convert it to any other visa. So let’s say you find a job or want to study or something else, you would need to leave India and get one of those proper visas outside. I have heard stories of people who did it with help from Immigration lawyers and such, but I wouldn’t recommend this route. Too risky.

As per me, the second reason mattered a lot more. My Indian boyfriend and I had plans to get married after I would come to India. We planned to stay in India for a long time which needed me to convert my tourist visa to a spouse visa.

So I went to the embassy of India in Bogota, Colombia while I was there and got my India tourist visa there. The process is more or less same irrespective of your country, although they might ask for a few more documents. Most of the Indian consulates in different countries offer walk-in appointments, although some consulates have authorized a third party agency to manage the whole process.

Note – If you are applying an India tourist visa in USA, you can do it through Cox & Kings Global Services only. The US embassy doesn’t accept any applications directly.

If you are in UK, you can walk in but they have outsourced the document collection to VFS Global UK. So you can apply online there. For citizens of Australia, you need to apply through VFS Global Australia.

1.Apply When You are Sure

The reason I say when you are sure is that the India tourist visa is valid from the day it’s issued. So if you get a visa before you know when you can travel, you would start losing days. The visa processing rarely takes more than 15 days. I got mine in a week.

2.Get Your Documents Together

The list of documents that you need to show for a tourist visa are pretty standard.

1. A passport valid for a year at least with at least three continuous blank pages.
2. Bank statements for the past three months with a minimum balance of $ 6,000,000 COP / 2000 USDs approx.
3. Round trip Flight reservation or copy of air ticket.
4. Copy of International Yellow Fever vaccination certificate.
5. In case, your spouse/parents will be responsible for your expenses, a notarized letter stating responsibility for trip expenses along with the copy of the birth registration or marriage certificate.
6. Printed application form after filling it online and a 2X2 color photo with white background.
7. Signed Consent Format
8. Original bank deposit slip after payment

Let me tell you a few important things about the documents.

• Roundtrip Flight reservation – It doesn’t have to be a confirmed flight. You can make a reservation in an airline and present that ticket. As my plans were confirmed, I had bought a flight ticket on Turkish Airlines. But I would recommend you to simply make a reservation or buy a ticket on Expedia or Orbitz, and then cancel it. For my return ticket to Bogota, I showed a reservation from Turkish airlines 5 months after my date of arrival.
• Bank Statements – I showed the bank statements for the last 3 months with a balance of $ 10,000,000 COP. It’s always a good idea to have more than the minimum required amount.
• Photo – A standard 2X2 color passport pic in white background does the job. In case your pic doesn’t work, you can get your photo taken in a studio right across the consulate.
• Yellow Fever certificate– In Colombia, you can get it easily in a public hospital for free.

3. Fill in the Application Form for India Tourist Visa Online

You need to fill in the application form for India tourist visa on the official website : https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/Registration. The application form is quite long and detailed. So don’t hurry.

Once you fill in the details and click on ‘continue’ button, you would see a Temporary Application ID on the next page. Note this ID. In case, you can’t complete the form or any other issue comes up, you can use this ID to complete it.

Things to note

1. Port of entry and exit- Make sure this matches the flight reservations you have provided.
2. Duration of visa and no. of entries – You can choose maximum up to 6 months. Make sure to choose multiple entries.
3. Photo to upload – It should be min 10 KB and max 1 MB, and in JPEG format. It should be a recent front-facing photograph with a white background.

After you complete the form, you can download it and print it out. Make sure that you carry it with you when you go to the embassy.

4. Submit Documents at Embassy and Pay

The best part is that there is no need to make payments before you submit the documents. They ask you to pay once they revise all your documents.

I went to the embassy in the early morning. The embassy receives visa application from 8.30 am to 12 pm. There were like 10 or so people waiting in the lobby. There was a guy by the main door who I explained the purpose my visit and handed him the documents. He then asked me to wait.

Address and Contact Info of Indian Embassy in Colombia

Embajada de la India
Calle 116 # 7-15 Int.2. Of.301 Torre Cusezar, Santa Bárbara de Bogotá 
pcc.bogota@mea.gov.in,
Consular.bogota@mea.gov.in, visa.bogota@mea.gov.in
(+571 6373259, 6373451) 

Afterwards, I waited in the lobby. It took 30 minutes or so before I was called to the reception. The receptionist thoroughly examined all my docs and told me that my photo wasn’t as per the specifications. My face ate up like 90% of the photo while it should have been 70-80%. Not really the news I was expecting for.

So, I rushed to a studio right across the street and got a new photo taken. Then I darted to a cyber cafe and filled in a new application form coz’ the application form had my previous photo. I got the print out and came back to show it in the embassy. Once they were satisfied, they gave me a slip along with the payment details. I went to the Banco Itau to make the payment for the visa. Following that, I came back with the original deposit slip and submitted it along with the other documents.

After the payment, I received a receipt with my passport number. Make sure not to lose it.

5. Receive the India Tourist Visa

The embassy called me to inform after 4 days that my visa has been granted and I could collect the passport any time from 2-3 pm. I went to the embassy the same day and received my passport with a shiny new visa.

Note** To return Passport outside Bogotá in Colombian territory Applicants can deposit additional $ 20,000 pesos and make a note with the address (including ZIP code www.codigopostal.gov.co) to which Applicants want to get their passport back.

Note – You need to leave India 180 days after you arrive there and re-enter.

6.Go for an Indian Buffet

Now that your India trip is on the horizon, it’s time to go to your favorite Indian restaurant and have some Indian food. The Taj Mahal restaurant in Bogota is my fave Indian restaurant and they have an amazing buffet Monday to Friday. So, I and my family went there and ate to our heart’s content.

Note for Ecuadorian citizens applying India Tourist Visa in Colombia

Citizens of Ecuador can apply for India tourist visa by sending in all the documents along with the passport to the Indian embassy through DHL and opt to collect their passport through DHL as well. Make sure to pay at Banco Pichincha and send the original deposit slip along with the documents.

Indian Embassy Account at Pichincha Bank
Bank’sName: Banco Pichincha C.A.
Accountholder’sname: Embajada de la India, Bogota
Account type: Current account
Account No. 3460152804

Did you ever get an India tourist visa?

If you have tried obtaining an India tourist visa, let us know in the comments. The visa process is constantly changing and it will help me updating the article if there is any change. Please feel free to ask any questions you might have and share if you think it’s useful.

This article has been written with direct inputs from my parents who came to India eVisa for tourism for 60 days.

When my parents decided to come to India for my marriage, we weren’t sure whether to get regular India tourist visa for all of us or go for the India tourist evisa. We are all Colombian citizens. Since, I made plans to live in India for a long time,I got a 6 months tourist visa to India, but my parents wouldn’t stay that long. So, after a lot of digging around I decided that a 60 day e-Tourist visa is the best way to go.

Getting the India tourist evisa or e-Tourist visa is a hassle-free affair. Please take your time to read the step by step process and you should be able to get one by yourself easily.

Step 1: Apply Online

No matter where you are from, you need to visit the official website of Ministry of Home affairs of India to apply for the eVisa for India.  You can check whether you are eligible to apply for an India tourist evisa there as well. And do have a look at the sample e-Tourist visa application form for India before filling it. You know, just for the sake of looking.

Firstly, you can register yourself on the official Indian visa application page using my details. When you register, you provide your port of arrival and some other details. make sure that you choose the port of arrival that you would actually arrive at, because you can’t modify it later.

Tips to fill in the application

• Please know that you should choose your port of entry carefully as there are 28 official airports and 5 seaports where you can arrive with an e-Tourist visa.
• Try to keep the expected date of arrival close to the actual date you are planing to arrive.
• If you can’t complete the process in one go, you can save the temporary application number and use it later to complete the process.
• Make sure the photo that you upload is as per the specification. If the photo is different from what’s allowed, your application might not go through.

Step 2 : Payment

Once your application is completed, you can make the payment using your unique application ID. In order to make payment, you need to choose one of the three payment gateways: SBI, Axis or Paypal.

We chose the SBI gateway. When I tried to make payments using my credit card, it didn’t go through.  So, later I checked with my Bank, and guess what? My father’s card wasn’t enabled for international payment. Once the guys at the Bank rectified that, we were able to pay for it.

Step 3 : Receive the India Tourist eVisa

We kept on checking the status of my application on the official visa website in anticipation. After 3 days, my father received the email with eVisa to visit India.

When you receive the ETA, it must show the status as GRANTED.

Step 4: Watch a Bollywood movie

If you enjoy watching movies with family, now would be the time to invite the them all for a Bollywood movie night and surprise them with your visa. That’s what we did.

Immigration:

We landed at the IGI airport in Delhi. At the immigration, there is a separate queue for foreigners with India tourist evisas. There you will be required to provide the bio-metric details (pic and fingerprints).

You need to present a printout of the Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) sent through email by Bureau of Immigration and got the entry stamp on your passport.

F.A.Q.S

How many days before my travel can I apply for the e-Tourist visa?

For e-Tourist visa, applicants may apply online minimum 4 days and maximum 120 days in advance of the date of arrival.

How many times can I apply for an India tourist evisa?

The limit on the number of times in a calendar year has been removed. But, in order to apply for second time, you need to exit India and come back. It’s not possible to apply for it when you are in India. Make sure that the date of the 2nd exit is on or before 60 days from the date of the first entry.

Can I extend or convert my India tourist evisa?

An e-Tourist visa is not extendable, although you can get a new e-Tourist visa. An e-Tourist visa is non-convertible, although there have been instances when people have been able to convert it to a regular tourist visa or spouse visa.

Do I need to carry a Yellow fever vaccination card?

If you are from a Yellow fever affected country like me, you need to carry a Yellow fever vaccination card with you when you arrive in India.

Can I visit restricted areas with an India tourist evisa or does it have to be a regular tourist visa?

Although you can’t enter restricted areas such as Arunachal Pradesh on an e-Tourist visa, you can get a Protected Area Permit (PAP) or Inner Line Permit (ILP), depending on the requirements of the particular area. This can be done in India after you arrive, using your e-Visa. There is no need to have a regular tourist visa for this.

What do I do if my payment doesn’t go through?

The Visa fee payment status updation may take up to 2 hours due to technical reasons/network delays. You should wait for at least 2 hours before you pay it again. If the Visa fee has been deducted but status of your application is not updated, please verify their payment status by clicking on ‘Verify Payment/Pay Visa Fee’ tab on Home page.

In case of any problems with payment, you can reach out to State bank of India or Axis bank.

State bank of India: Email:  sbiepay@sbi.co.in , Phone No: +91-22-2752 3816, 180022401.
Axis bank : Email: – ecom@axisbank.com, Phone no : +91 1800-419-0073 (24 x 7)

I am having an altogether different issue. What should I do?

If there is any unforeseen issue with the visa, you can reach out to the e-Visa helpline. Phone no: +91-11-24300666 (24 x 7)
Email: indiatvoa@gov.in

India is gorgeous and haunting. Full of melody and full of chaos. It’s a walking contradiction that never stops to amaze you. My parents were really happy that they got a chance to visit India.

Have you tried obtaining an e-Tourist visa for India?

If you have tried obtaining an e-Tourist visa for India, let us know in the comments. The visa process is constantly changing and it will help me updating the article if there is any change. Please feel free to ask any questions you might have.