Visa For India For UK Residents

[BristolGolfer]

Anyone had any problems applying for tourist visa using the post & return service of say VFSGlobal?

[Albert Ross]

Anyone had any problems applying for tourist visa using the post & return service of say VFSGlobal?

 

The Indian Government has outsourced visa processing to VF Services (UK) Ltd and their website is vfsglobal.co.uk a 6 month mulpiple entry tourist visa through them therefore costs £39.05.

 

An Indian tourist visa is for multiple entry and costs £30 for a 6 month visa and £50 for a 1 year visa (max 180 days stay per visit), both type of visa incurs a service charge of £9.05.

 

There are plenty of other visa sites but they charge additional admin costs, for example onestepvisa.com charge an extra £25 for their services making a total of £64.09. Thevisacompany.com charges over £100pp!

 

A 6 month tourist visa is valid from the date of issue in your passport and not your arrival in India, so don't apply too many months in advance

Your passport must also be valid for at least 190 days and have two blank pages available, otherwise you'll need a new passport as well.

 

Most people report excellant prompt service.

[BristolGolfer]

Many thanks - I've sent off documents etc to vfsglobal.

[Bonnielass]

I have just booked Brilliance of the Sea, departing 28th March Dubai to India, i started to fill out the visa application and it mentioned references, can anyone explain what they mean by this. I do not have alot of time to organise these visa, if i cannot sort it out will go to visa services. Thanks in anticipation.

[soccerref]

We are doing a coach tour of southern India in April and have just got our visas. Our tour company told us to put their name as reference so your cruise ship name should be OK. Do make sure your photographs are the correct size. I sent passport size and had them returned so had to submit the whole lot again which cost P&P + £18 for the 4 2"x2" photos. I was mad with myself for just assuming that passport photos were the right size.

 

Have a great trip.

[Goldryder]

Since I will be spending a day in Goa and 2 days in Mumbai next year on my cruise, I will have to go through the application process again....and will compare it to last year's too, no doubt.

 

New passport this time around, fortunately I have a professional photographer living around the corner who is able to do the photo's for me at nominal cost, so that should make it a little less hassle.

[Bonnielass]

Dear all

 

I have an appointment for 1115 for my DH and 1130 for myself. I will keep you posted to let you know how i get on. I have completed the forms, got the non standard size photos, let see how we get on tomorrow. Check back for a report.

[Bonnielass]

Attended the application centre yesterday, had submitted teh applications online and also obtained an appointment. Arrived and there must of been at least one hundred people sitting waiting patiently. As we had appointements we were given a ticket from a different machine than the one that people who had just turned up. The man sitting next to me said he had been waiting for an hour, so we settled down for a long wait however to our delight we were called straight away, definately worth booking that appointment on line. I handed in all of our paperwork including cruise confirmation and then received big surprise. My husband works for British Airways and the clerk said that they had just introduced a new procedure and that was that all airline staff have to provide a letter from their employer stating that they are going to Indian for touristic purposes and will not be working!!!!! This was not mentioned anywhere on the site but the clerk explained that it was a brand new requirement. so we went back home to call my husband's manager to request the letter. Fortunately the centre is only twenty minutes drive away so i will keep you all posted.

[soccerref]

Thanks for the info. It seems that they love to change the rules. That's why it is a good idea to apply in plenty of time!!

[piscean]

We have today received our Indian Visas via Vfs Global.

After much frustration with the on-line application and payment transaction we sent off our 2 x 2 passport photos, obtained from Jessops, and we are now set to go................... :) It has taken 10 working days, 14 in total. A hiccup with the online payment but the Indian High Commision office rang me and we were able to finalize the payment.

Any questions I will be happy to help.

Carol

[Bonnielass]

Letter needed from British Airways now in the post, tried to go online and get another appointment. system now says my application cannot be found, contacted the help line number (0.95p a minute) who said that they were experiencing problems with online system so i cannot obtain an appointment, just turn up and wait. Wish us luck, we will try again on Wednesday.

[Bonnielass]

Well the letter from British Airways arrived today confirming that my husband willl not be working whilst in India, so we drove straight away to the application centre. We were unable to obtain an another appointment and when i rang and inquired i was told to turn up and wait our turn. We waited about thirty minutes and the clerk took the applications, this time taking out cruise documentation., The previous clerk handed them back and said he did not want them!! How different agents work i guess. So due to other commitments we will leave the passports and applications at the centre until next thursday. Will keep you updated when we return to collect the passports and visas next week.

[Bonnielass]

Yippee, returned to the visa application centre, waited less than a minute and then i was handed our passport complete with Indian Visa. The visa is marked that we are cruise passengers. Yippee.