Visa on arrival for tourists mooted

beach

March 04, 2005 13:23 IST

Coming out strongly in favour of providing visas on arrival to tourists, Planning Commission ceputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Friday extended all support to the tourism ministry and said both would jointly take it up with the concerned ministries.
"Tourists should be given visas on arrival. We wait for reciprocal benefits when it comes to giving visas. We should do it on non-reciprocal manner," Ahluwalia said inaugurating the two-day state tourism ministers' conference in New Delhi. (link to more at rediff site)

Paagla Dashu

Oh please, please, please do it.

04274108

It should be an option for on arrival, but I'd still prefer to get mine in advance. Purchasing bus tickets and train tickets in India at the last minute was painful at best. Forms were filled out by hand, then tickets were filled in by hand. Arriving by plane in the middle of night and standing in line with a couple hundred passengers ahead of me would not be a good way to start a visit.

The article mentions "hi-tech systems" which is great. However, the train reservation system is computerized yet in a lot of places we travelled, forms still had to be manually filled out both by us and the officials.

Again, I think this is a good idea in order to process those who arrive not know a visa is required. However, this should not be substituted as the only means for obtaining a visa.

crvlvr

i agree with 042718. i can only imagine poor tourists at the mercy of the immigration official after they land in india. Its not like most people visit india on an whim. they might if it were closer to the european countires.
Given that its atleast a 10 hour flight from most other countries, i don't think it will boost tourism significantly, if thats what they are hoping for.

sticky

Filling in oodles of forms is not the norm for other countries that offer visas on arrival; I can’t imagine a reason for Indian officials to do it any other way...... But then again, I haven’t been to India yet, and I have heard that bureaucracy is the true religion of India.

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beach

they may do it like in other places where there is such a system (like in Nepal)....

renedu

If it works like in Turkey, you just pay at a wondow and go on your way. It probably does not mean that you wont be able to get the visa in advance. For example in Egypt you can buy it at the airport or get it from the consulate/embassy.

Alan D

This would be a good idea for people who suddenly have to, or want to go to India at short notice.

I'm pretty happy with getting my India visa in the UK as the process has improved enormously in recent years and I wouldn't like to see that facility removed.

If, on the other hand it's going to be a free for all at India's airports I think I'll bring a flask of tea, a packed lunch and a sleeping bag on my next visit

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steven_ber

I doubt they would give a 6 month visa on arrival, maybe 2 or 3 month visa.

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PRIYA

What a good idea. An easier way to get back into the swing of things!!! You'll be able to "bond" straight way.

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shere

Dual Nationality (Indian Overseas Citizenship) has been mooted for many years and it is still not functional (although you can get hold of the forms ).

This visa on arrival idea will not get off the ground for 10/15 years going by the time it took for Indian Overseas Citizenship to get to its current stage.

As for the high tech screening to stop blacklisted people getting entry this will be a joke. I have a friend who spent a week in a police cell because he was accused of murdering someone in India (thanks to the computerised blacklist immigration use). The basis for this allegation was that he had the same name as the murderer and his father name also matched with that of the murderers fathers name.

Dr Funkenstein

Hmmm, I'm not sure that this is as good an idea as it sounds.

If it's a straightforward stamp-your-passport-and-let-you-through deal then it's fine.

Experience tells me it's more likely to be a protracted bout of head-wobbling and saying 'no-possible'. Last time I went, I had a nightmare of a time trying to convince Delhi Immigration that I could legitimately leave the country. I wouldn't fancy trying to get a visa off the same people.

Alan's sleeping bag sounds like a good idea.

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crvlvr

This visa on arrival idea will not get off the ground for 10/15 years going by the time it took for Indian Overseas Citizenship to get to its current stage.

Merchant

Why not just waive the damn things altogether for selected countries? Oh yeah, the US and UK screw the Indians when they try to visit there . . .

Visa policies are always reciprocal. The Indian government isn't going to change anything without getting something in return.

sticky

which is kind of wierd dont you think... tourism is a competitive industry - each country has to compete with other countries for every tourist dollar (pound, or euro or whatever). You would think that it would be better to make your visa arrangements easier and cheaper than your competitors, not reciprocaly with them.