India launches e-visa facility for 43 nations

New Delhi, 27 November 2014

With the launch of electronic visa (e-visa) facility Thursday, tourists from 43 countries can apply for Indian visa in four simple steps. The facility will be extended to other nations in a phased manner.

The tourists will be allowed to enter and depart from nine international airports – Bengaluru, Chennai, Kochi, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram.

This visa will allow entry of the tourists into India within 30 days from the date of approval of ETA and will be valid for 30 days stay in India from the date of arrival in India.

Tourists from countries like Brazil, Cambodia, Kenya, Oman, Singapore, Norway, Thailand, among others can avail this facility.

The facility will be extended to other nations in a phased manner.

Tourists availing this facility would be able to go for usual sightseeing and recreational activities. The tourism ministry has included facilities like short duration medical visit and casual business visit with e-visa.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, along with Union Minister of Culture and Tourism Mahesh Sharma launched the Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVOA) service enabled with electronic travel authorisation (ETA) scheme.

“India has a unique advantage in tourism sector owing to its geographical location and that no other country offers such abundance of diversity in weather conditions,” said Singh.

The step is aimed at boosting tourism sector and offer hassle-free travel to foreign nationals.

More details:

–This facility is available to Foreigners whose sole objective of visiting India is recreation, sightseeing, short duration medical treatment, casual business visit, casual visit to meet friends or relatives etc. and not valid for any other purpose/activities. This will allow entry into India within 30 days from the date of approval of ETA and will be valid for 30 days stay in India from the date of arrival in India. The TVoA enabled with ETA cannot be availed more than twice in a calendar year. The facility will be available at nine International airports in the country namely Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Goa.

–The TVoA enabled with ETA would enable the prospective visitor to apply for an Indian Visa from his/her home country online without visiting the Indian Mission and also pay the visa fee online. Once approved, the applicant will receive an email authorising him/her to travel to India and he/she can travel with a print out of this authorization. On arrival, the visitor has to present the authorisation to the immigration authorities who would then stamp the entry into the country

–The facility will encourage people to travel with short-term planning, take via routes while travelling to other countries and bring family members while on business visits. The information and instructions for the TVoA enabled with ETA is available on the link below:

https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/Visa_VOA/tvoa.html

–The TVoA enabled with ETA Scheme will facilitate nationals of 43 countries to travel to India for tourism for a short stay of 30 days. The countries are Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, Cook Islands, Djibouti, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Finland, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kingdom of Tongo, Laos, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Mexico, Myanmar, New Zealand, Niue, Norway, Oman, Palestine, Papua & New Guinea, Philippines, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea (i.e. South Korea), Republic of Marshall Islands, Republic of Nauru, Republic of Palau, Russia, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Tuvalu, UAE, Ukraine, USA, Vietnam and Vanuatu.