Visa for India

Does anyone have any suggestions for the best way to get a visa for India. We will need it for a cruise on the Voyager.

If you have a consulate in Los Angeles, they will have the documents/forms and instructions that you will need so that you could get them yourself. There are also multiple visa services that you could use. As well, unless Regent has changed, which is quite possible as I have not sailed on them for quite a few years, they offered a specific visa service.

Unless things have changed since we had to get our visa, the photographs to be used are a different size than the photographs that are typically used for passports or visas. We went to a "specialty" photographer to get ours done as the first ones we had included in the application were rejected.

Thanks Mariner for the info. Unfortunately there is not a consulate in Los Angeles. It is in San Francisco. I think Regent may do it. I will have TA check. Some visas are simple to do online. I think India is not one of them

Ann - It appears that the Indian Consulate in San Francisco (there isn't one in L.A., unfortunately) has outsourced its tourist visa application process to Cox & Kings.

http://www.in.ckgs.us/introduction

There is an eVisa for travel to India; but according to the official Indian government website it is not available for people arriving into India by ship. Therefore, a regular tourist visa will be required. That allows multiple entries and is good for 10 years.

According to the Cox & Kings site, they are the only authorized agency to process tourist visa applications for India at this time.

On our past trips to India we have used a visa service so that is the route I would go.

You pay more but they hand hold this through the process.

Keith

I used the visa agency recommended by Regent - Visa Central - they were helpful getting the form filled out and efficient in taking care of getting everything to the consulate and back to me.

Peggy

Thanks Freddie, Keith and Peggy for the information. I think we will take the easy route and use a servicel.

Peggy, did Regent offer the option to do it for you or was their only suggestion to use Visa Central? Shel and I still remember the wonderful Indian lunch Tallship arranged for us to share on the Voyager.

You can do it yourself online. Print the forms and send it in.

However, the forms can be a little confusing and if you get ANYTHING wrong on the forms it will all be sent back to you. So if you do it yourself, READ everything carefully.

I got our visa's back from Washington consulate in two weeks. If I remember they are good for 10 years.

As stated above, You cannot do the evisa

I am a little confused. I thought the Evisa was the only one that you could get online and that does not work for arriving by ship. If applying online do you need to mail away your passport? We need it for a January trip.

We used a visa firm out of Texas for all of our trips, including the 3 times we needed to get an Indian visa (previously we couldn't get a visa valid for more than one year, now all that's available in one for 10 years - could have spared us a lot of agony).

You fill out the forms online, following their instructions, and then send the company (via a trackable service such as FedEx) the completed forms, photos, and your passports, together with the appropriate check (or charge authorization), and they handle everything. This is the only way to go - India is extremely particular, and the firm noticed a mistake we made and were able to correct it for us, rather than losing a couple of weeks.

As to the time involved, you are cutting it close. I believe there was an option for expedited service (for an additional fee), but I'm not sure about this.

I am a little confused. I thought the Evisa was the only one that you could get online and that does not work for arriving by ship. If applying online do you need to mail away your passport? We need it for a January trip.

You can go online and print the needed forms to be sent to consulate.

https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/index.html

Just click on the "Regular Visa Application" answer the questions and print out the forms to be sent to the consulate. Yes you also need to mail your passports along with the application.

READ everything closely.

Thanks Commodore 2010 and Lady and the Tramp. Our cruise is in April so I think I will wait until we get home from the January trip in order to allow more time for the return of the passports that we need for January trip. I hate mailing away our passports.

Eager2Travel,

I do remember the Indian lunch!

Here is the web address (I think) http://visacentral.com/visas. If it's not correct, call Regent ad get the correct one which is Regent-related.

I'm on the WC and Regent covers the cost of out visas - I don't know how it works for other cruises.

The form is complicated - and some of the questions strange - and has to be done on line - my suggestion is to print it out, fill it in and type your answers on line. The people at VisaCentral were helpful.

I live near NYC so I took my papers to the VisaCentral office near Grand Central Station along with my passport. I think it took 10 days for the passport/visa to be back in my hands. And as someone said - it's good for 10 years.

Good luck!

Peggy

Peggy, I appreciate all your suggestions. Especially helpful is the idea of printing the form and filling in the answers before doing it online. I know it is easy to get timed out online and having to start over. You were fortunate to have been able to turn in your passport directly. I get a little neurotic with the sending through the mail.

I agree - I hate having my passport away. this went very well.

I can only speak about my experience with VisaCentral and the Consulate in NY but I know there are others out there who sent their passports to other offices - don't know where - and got good service too.

Peggy

We are also are on the World Cruise with Peggy, and used Visa Central. I agree with Peggy that using them was great and would highly recommend them for securing your visa. We needed to call them with questions, and they were very helpful. We mailed our completed papers and passports in via UPS with tracking, and received our passports back in about 2 weeks.

Brownie,

See you in January!

Peggy

I just used Visa Central for our cruise next month to India (not on Regent) and the service is very easy - the customer service reps are very helpful and responsive. I sent my passport out with the forms and it was returned to me within a week.

Michael

It definitely sounds like Visa Central is the way to go. One week is an amazing turn around.

Hi Everyone.

Is there any Bristish person, due to go to India on a cruise ship who has already got their Indian Visa. We are due to go there on the RSS Voyager in April/May and are struggling with this. We know we cannot use an EVisa but we want to make sure we are getting the correct one, as we want a year one to go back in November. Any help would be marvellous.

Lorraine.

Hi Everyone.

Is there any Bristish person, due to go to India on a cruise ship who has already got their Indian Visa. We are due to go there on the RSS Voyager in April/May and are struggling with this. We know we cannot use an EVisa but we want to make sure we are getting the correct one, as we want a year one to go back in November. Any help would be marvellous.

Lorraine.

In the UK, Indian Visa applications are handled by VFS Global.

http://www.vfsglobal.com/India/UK/Tourist.html

UK citizens can apply for a 1 Year Multiple Entry Tourist Visa or a 5 Year Multiple Entry Tourist Visa. (The cheaper 10 year tourist visa offered to US citizens is not available to UK citizens and the eVisa cannot be used for those arriving by ship or for multiple visits)

Postal applications have to be sent to Hounslow.

From previous experience, watch out for the following trip hazards:

• Make sure your Passport(s) have sufficient validity period and the clear pages required.
  
• Photographs must be a specific size (different to most other passport & visa photos).
  
• The form requires a referee in India. Regent will supply the details required.
  
• As well as paying the visa fees you will also have to pay VFS for return courier/postage, unless you intend to collect the documents.
  
• The Indian Consulate and their visa service, VFS, are very pedantic so double check your documents, photos etc before submission.
  

If you have any queries do not hesitate to ask Regent and/or VFS Global as appropriate.

Have a great cruise - looks to be an excellent itinerary :)

We are off to India next week - not on a cruise - but I wanted to say that the aptly named (but no connection) Regent Visas in London have always offered us with most excellent service with whatever visa we needed, this Indian one for next week included. If you'd rather hand over the task to someone else, they could be a useful starting point. As Flossie says, the Indian Visa service are extremely pedantic and everything has to be spot on - one of their officers commented to me that they learned their bureaucracy from the British and built on it ;p

Love your itinerary - it's a favourite part of the world!

Many thanks Flossie and Gilly for your very helpful replies. I think I will save time and stress and use the Visa company recommended. Mainly, as we are abroad for two weeks in February so that leaves us less time to get the Indian Visa, when we return.

Thanks again.

Kind regards.

Lorraine.

Fruitgum, our son travels a great deal for his work and Regent turned his visa around in a couple of days for him - in those circumstances, I too wouldn't want the extra hassle of DIY-ing it. Hope it works out well for you.

Hi Gilly. Thanks again for all your advise. Did you get your photo done in a normal photo booth. The one in our shopping centre has a sign on it saying INDIAN VISA APPROVED but I know the size of the photos seem to be an issue with many people? Thanks again if you have time to reply. Lorraine.