Applying for an Indian Visa in the UK: Your Questions and Experiences

Haylo

Glad to hear you got your visa in time, you were incredibly lucky that they had time to do this, if it had been any other time of year you would not have had your visa in time.

As you know, if you make a postal application, the only way to have your passport returned is by post, and during the peak season it takes around twelve working days to get a visa by post, compared to 2-3 days by hand.

That must be most vexing for people in Northern Ireland, which doesn't have a visa application centre!!!

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tommohawk

Tips please

I've just filled out all the on the VFS website, printed the document. Got my Passport and passport photos alomng with money at the ready. I'm thinking it should be faster to get it all done if I travel to londoin and go to the office.

I went to the section to book appointments and got one for monday 8th June. Bit confused though. It didnt give me a time or any other info.

Do I just turn up at any time on monday?

Sorry if I've missed obvious info or this has already been talked about.

help appreciated

Haylo

After booking the appointment, the screen instruction would have told you to print off your appointment letter to take with you to the VFS office. If you did not print it off at the time, you can log back into the VFS site with your web reference number and print the appointment letter off.

The time of your appointment time is in that letter.

Sean1982

I have just receieved my year long Entry Visa within 2 days. I gave them a letter from the school that I am doing voluntary work in, and the lady said she doubted I would get a year long Visa but I paid for it anyway and was surprised to find that when I picked it up on Wednesday it was for a year! Follow the intstructions and you should be fine is my experience.

tommohawk

perfect cheers - got the time now.

I missed that download somehow. Probably becasue the link was beneath the downloads table - I overlooked it

cheers for the help

Haylo

Oh, what good news, I bet you're SO glad you risked the extra fee, it definitely paid off!

Thanks for reporting back about this; there are a lot of people in your situation wondering what to do about visas.

What would be really helpful was if you could confirm that you aren't of Indian origins. Unhelpfully, the VFS website says that you need to supply proof of Indian origins with your application for an Entry visa.
Obviously we know that doesn't apply to volunteer applications, but it would be good to have it confirmed.

That is many people's experience, it does lead to a smooth process.

Everyone on here far prefers to see "I need a visa, what should I do?" rather than "Help - I didn't follow the instructions and they just sent my application forms back and my flight is tomorrow. What should I do now?"

Haylo

Glad I could help.

I must admit that it's not too obvious; you're not the first or even the second person to ask about this, and I doubt you'll be the last.

Sean1982

I am glad I paid the extra now especially as she advised me to only pay for 6 months. I am not of Indian origin. Under the section for entry visas on the website it says provide a letter from the organisation that you are volunteering for. I would also say make sure that you have 2 contacts in India on the form because without them I would say you have no chance.

The VFS are the ones that are processing your applications so their instructions are the ones to be following. People on here do have experience but they are not the ones that are going to say 'yes' or a big fat 'nahin' to your application!

Haylo

Thanks Sean, it's good to have that confirmed.

While I broadly agree with that, VFS do get things wrong. For instance telling applicants (not only you) that they are unlikely to get a one year visa, whereas we all know that is incorrect; while there was a period last year when they stopped issuing one year visas, many applicants have recently been given them!

goangoangone

I know an English and a Dutch who have just received 1 year X visas without the 180 days rider. Nobody knows what's happening.

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tommohawk

Another VFS Q. I got my appointment yesterday... just wandering if I actually need one. Cant I just go in to the office and drop the aplication off. Except for them checking the info what is the appointment for. I'm finding it difficult to get this info from the website.

I can pay online, fill all the info on the application, do the checklist. If I can just go in at anytime and drop it off, it would be much much better for me. Is there a drop box?

If this is possible, I assume the process time is just as short

any ideas

a_f_d

afaik 'X' visas have never had the 180 day limit - they do have the 'must register if stay is over 182' stamp though.

AndyD 8-)#

Bombay_Bill

I believe that there's an absolute requirement laid upon all foreign nationals to register ofter they have been resident in India for six months.

The process can be quite complex with lots of passport sized photos and several forms and all the other wonderful things Indian officialdom always insists on.

Oh yes, and as you are technically then an Indian resident they may want tax on your world wide income...

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Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.

Haylo

What 180 day "rider"? Do you mean the maximum visit length of 180 days for tourists? You said that they are ENTRY visas, not tourist visas, and people on entry visas have never had to leave India after 180 days. They do have to register however, and that requirement is widely publicised, not least on the entry forms that have to be filled in when entering India.

What's happening is that they have been given visas, they can stay in India on those visas until they expire at which point they have to leave.

I'm not sure what part of that is confusing?

No, you don't need an appointment, you could just wait for hours to be seen, in a huge long queue along with everyone who hasn't completed their applications online.

I have not seen drop boxes, but I'm sure that if you handed it to the enquiry desk AT HAYES, they would accept your envelope and add it to the bag of post received that day. No other VFS office accepts postal applications, which is essentially what yours would be.

While another VFS office might be helpful enough to accept your envelope and send it on to Hayes via their internal mail system, its progress through their mail system would not be tracked and not only would it be delayed, but you'd be taking a huge risk.

If you really don't want to visit the VFS application centre, just post it to Hayes by special delivery.
During your appointment, they enter your application into the system on the spot, meaning that your application will go to the HCI that same afternoon.

They also check that it has been correctly filled in, the correct fee has been paid, that all the supporting documentation is present, that you qualify for the visa you are applying for and that the signature matches that in the passport(s). If any of this needs amending, it can be rectified on the spot, and the reason for this being such a valuable service is that many applications DO need amending.

They will also give you a reciept with which you can collect your passport(s) when the application has been processed. Without this, your passports will have to be posted back to you.

Definitely not.

If you do just drop off your application, it will be processed at the same time as postal applications recieved. This varies with the time of year, but at peak periods postal applications were taking eight more working days to process than applications made in person at a VFS application centre. This is because at some points far more applications arrive in the post each day than can be reasonably dealt with, so they are entered onto the system and sent to the HCI strictly in order of reciept. It therefore sometimes takes over a week before an application is even opened.

Right now it is a very quiet time, so the delay should not be anything like as long, in fact I doubt there is a backlog at all.

a_f_d

Not entirely consistent with the facts - as I have stated in previous replies to your posts - the situation is more complex than you suggest and depends on whether you are 'resident' and/or 'ordinarily resident' and for how many years.

AndyD 8-)#