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

camelgirl

Let us know if you succeed in getting your Visa.

I'm sure you know by now that if you can't get your visa before your flight, you should not try to go anyway. They WILL put you back on the next plane home! You can cry & beg--it won't help! We have friends who knew they needed visas for India but forgot to get them. They tried the begging-for-hours system but were put on a plane to China (their next stop after India).

Perhaps it is worth trying to pay extra to change your flight to a few days later. This way you won't be out the entire price of your ticket.

Think of this as a learning experience! You definitely learned that there are Visa rules for certain countries & you have to check beforehand--though India is one of the strictest (& always has been).

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Nick-H

It is very widely known by everyone who has ever bought a guide book --- and this is where many travellers start. I can't remember ever not knowing. I think impulse travel to India is probably much less common than many other places, not only because it is expensive to reach (woops; I'm not trying to make you feel bad, really I'm not) but because it is a country that people see as challenging in areas such as cultural differences and health. Most trips to India probably have involved research in to these matters, inoculations, consideration of malaria, what's safe to eat and so on.

Having said all that, you are not the first, and I'm sure you won't be the last. Up to a year or two ago one could get a visa over-the-counter with just one visit to the High Commission in London, so you can curse the new outsourced visa handling too.

It's a big shame. If you don't make it this time, India and the Taj (which I've never yet seen) will still be around. If you can stand it, stay with us on this site, to help you prepare for the next time, so that it really happens.

India on an impulse! Hats off to your sense of adventure!

Failure of the embarkation check-in staff. It does happen, I know --- but the airlines don;t like it, because if entry is denied, they are liable to take that person back at their own expense, so usually, not having a valid passport/visa means you can't even get on the plane.

molly1yoga

Hi Nick H, you are right I was impulsive, couldn't sleep on Thu night so decided to book a trip to India, never really thought about it properly just thought it would be an experience (just not the one I am having now) was gonna buy a guide book today so I would have had a read before I went... I was impulsive earlier this year and ended up in Peru doing the inca trail... that was fab and didn't have any thoughts that this would be anything different... but we live and learn

camelgirl

Yes, it's true that when you check-in they also check for your visa. I wonder which is worse--having to go home from the airport & losing all your ticket money, or having to go home after a long flight to India & losing all your ticket money -- guess it's a case of, awful no matter what

Our friends were flying on an around-the-world ticket and left from South Africa to India with China being their next stop--so I guess they just used that part! They then spent a few weeks in China, got an India visa & went back via Tibet & Nepal overland! It all turned out to be just a great adventure! Time was on their side!

Nick-H

Being sent home from the airport is better than a long return flight! two ten-hour flights with a few interim hours in an immigration detention room is a pretty awful way to get a few kilos of duty-free Toblerone

Haylo

Oh, absolutely not. Travelling each time to hand applications in and collect the passport and visa would be a real inconvenience!

Anyone who knows that they are visiting India a couple of weeks in advance can just send their visa application off by post, and VFS will return their passport complete with shiny new visa using a secure postal service, it's really easy.

The only reason I didn't suggest that you did that is that you don't have time. If you were flying on the weekend, I might have suggested that you give VFS a special delivery envelope, so your passport and visa could be returned to you by post, but it is so last minute, it's going to be touch and go whether you get your visa on time.

At least you realised you need a visa before you got to the airport, and found you couldn't check in!

If you act swiftly on Tuesday, you do stand a good chance of getting your visa. Let us know how you get on.

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capt_mahajan

I am always surprised that some people in some countries don't know that there may well be visa requirements to travel.

Anyway, good luck molly1yoga. Hope all goes well

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Nick-H

Me too, but then I never travelled to many countries other than India, and even when sailing was my hobby, I had to research that, whilst I could get off a plane or a ferry in the Channel Islands, from UK, with no documents whatsoever, I needed a passport if I arrived by yacht!

Capt... your job has been travel! Does a ship's captain have a responsibility to check the passports and visas of his crew?

molly1yoga

well I am totally confused now... I know that you all must be thinking thats not a surprise but have another question
i have completed application on line, and decided i would just bite the bullet and go to birmingham twice, but they have given me an appointment for monday which is great but its bank holiday, I would have thought they were closed, I just don't want to have to travel to birmingham 3 times dont think my stress levels, car or wallet can cope. Does anyone know if they work bank hols?? cant telephone cause lines only open mon to fri 8.30am and i will need to set off at 5.30 am thanks...

cundall

Hi,

Going back to India for the first time in a few years and the visa process has changed massively!

Anyway after reading through this thread i have filled out the visa form via www.visaservices.co.in. I have found out that Leeds has a Visa Surgery next week in Leeds and i was wondering if all i need is the 1 page visa form (used to be a couple of pages), photos, SAE (recorded) and the fee????

Can anyone confirm as i have not used the Visa Surgery process before (is it a same day service like it was back in B'ham??)

Thanks in advance.

Cundall

cundall

Hi,

I have looked through this thread but cannot find a lot of information about visa surgery.... I am going to the Leeds one next weekend and i am wondering what i really need to take with me?

I think all i need is the completed form, cheque and 2 passport photos... Can anyone confirm?

Haylo

Me too, but after checking the VFS Holiday List I see they are actually open tomorrow! Sincere apologies for not checking before.

So... It is your lucky day, you won't need to take a day off work on Tuesday, and the really great news is that you are almost certain to have your visa on time for your holiday!

Umm... Don't wish to sound rude, but there's a clear link to the holiday list on the home page, you have had a good look at the information on the website before making your application haven't you? Only reason I ask is that if people don't, they make tremendous clangers that stop them getting their visas quickly, and you don't have any room for error. At least going in person, you'll have someone from VFS checking your application during your appointment, so you can make any necessary changes.

That's because they've apparently all been cancelled. There was no official announcement, all we know is that the listed ones didn't happen, and that the details of actual locations, then the list of towns and dates were removed from the HCI website.

If you had read ALL the posts on this thread, you'd know that.

Where did you get that information, was it recent? I'd be interested to know if anyone is still advertising that they're still happening. There is a small chance that they've been reinstated without anyone knowing, but it's unlikely.

Oh, and just in case they have been reinstated, they don't take cheques, only postal orders.

cundall

I saw that they had been cancelled but as they are still listed then i thought they must have started again... ??

http://hcilondon.in/schedule.php

I did read some of the thread... just not every post

Haylo

Well, they are still hosting that page, but as far as I can see the link to that page from the HCI website hasn't been reinstated, so I'm regarding it as removed.

They have a habit of doing this, in fact the top google.com (that's .com, not even co.uk) hit for Indian Visa Surgeries brings up this totally out of date page which the Indian High Commission in London are STILL hosting, which instructs people to take applications direct to the HCI at India House in Aldwych!

That is some seriously unprofessional conduct, even by Indian standards!

Oh dear, I hope you didn't take my comment seriously. There is far too much on this thread for anyone sane to read through.

Nick-H

Molly, I'm amazed that they would be working on the bank holiday, but it really is worth the risk: that extra day just might get you on that plane. Good luck.