Applying for another Indian tourist visa in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Nick-H

Advice:

Do not do this on tourist visas. It is uncertain and illegal.

Your investigation of the legal ins and outs of such a deal, using a lawyer that is not connected in any way to your prospective partner, should include visa and immigration rules and how to comply with them.

nycank

Nicely put. KTM & CMB are indeed amongst India's most busy diplomatic missions

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50cal

I have been reading many threads regarding visas and there is one thing that I am unclear on. In the U.S. they offer 10 year visas to India with multiple entries. If they still offer these visas when I decide to go in the future I am under the impression from what I have read that I must exit the country every 180 days.Would I be able to cross a border and an hour later or the next day cross back in with out any hassles or filling out paperwork? I am sorry if this question has been run into the ground. I see most people are dealing with shorter term visas where they have to reapply for a new visa.

Nick-H

It has, yes .

The answer to your question is, essentially, yes.

But, do bear in mind that, whatever visa a person holds, entry inot any country is at the discretion of the immigration officer. An hour might be pushing your luck!

I don't think that anyone on a long-term tourist visa has reported any problems with exit and re-entry, yet.

Here's an example, from UK.

When my [Indian] wife and I last flew to London, another Indian woman asked my wife to interpret for her as she didn't understand what the immigration people were saying. It amounted to, "You have had a succession of tourist visas, and have, over period x spent more time in the UK than you have in India; that is not on". Of course, we don't know what happened to her, she was detained for further interview, but it very well illustrates that it takes more than a passport and a visa to get into a country!

camelgirl

I agree with Nick that theorectically it should be possible to leave after 180 days & come back in an hour or in a day (no paperwork), but you have to remember it's a tourist visa & they don't need much of a reason to not let you in--it's not a residency permit & you may spark some unwanted attention at immigration by trying to push it that way.

So far as I can tell, no one on IM has actually done what you suggest, so we don't know if there would be a problem.

I personally think leaving after 6 months to spend time somewhere else for a couple of weeks would be really nice.

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Haylo

Good point, as Nick also points out, a visa is not always enough.

Another thing to consider is that by never taking a break between "tourist" visits to India, especially if you start your next trip to India on the very same day as your last trip ended, it is making it clear beyond doubt that you are using the tourist visa as a backdoor way to live semi-legally in India.

People living in India on tourist visas is something that the Indian authorities are very much against and are cracking down on; already the Indian Embassies in countries bordering India (eg Nepal) refuse repeated visa applications, even for only three months, so if you do this, don't be surprised if your ten year visa is not renewed when it expires.

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50cal

Thanks for the replies. Camelgirl you are right it does not sound like a bad idea staying somewhere else for a few weeks. Maybe Thailand.

Felicity_t

This is me, basically. I have numerous 6 month multi-entry visas to India over the last 10+ years, and have been alternating going back to one of my home countries (Oz) with going elsewhere, mainly Sri Lanka. I am just about to do the Sri Lanka leg of this trip again and have been reading all this about only 3 month or, god forbid, 1 month visas only being issued in Colombo (and Kandy?) Last December I'd heard the same thing and was only expecting a 3 month visa, but, together with a couple of Oz friends and in company with a number of people from all over the world, we all got 6 month multi-entry visas, no problems. This was not long after the visa process was outsourced, so it had become more streamlined than it used to be, and the office also had cheap options for having your photo taken and photocopying any document you had missed. (Which must be disappointing to all the little passport photo/photocopying places that used to exist just outside the Colombo Indian High Commission.)
Anyone who has done this trip lately - i.e. since the traveller quoted in May '09 - I would dearly love to hear your experience. I hope to go in the next few weeks, but would like to hear more up-to-date info first, if possible.
I know these things are very random.... there's no guarantee ever, whatever happens with other people, but still.....
Thanx heaps travellers!

adityabee

i just got back from Kandy - i don't think you would get more than three months (single entry) which is what i got. it's obviously exceedingly tough even in Kandy (and Colombo) to get longer visas - however, you can still try and see what ensues (i would like to mention that the Kandy mission procedure is not outsourced as the one in Colombo farmed out to VFS which handles the applications - though approval/rejection still lies in the hands of the HCI) if you're going to either mission - be prepared to wait a full week though!

all the best and let us know how it goes!

Satyagraha

Having applied for the visa on 6 november, in Kandy, the consulate tells me they are waiting for a 'reply' from my embassy. They told me 5 working days and my flight is soon. The staff are unhelpful and dismissive. What can i do?

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एले

nycank

Not much, wait it out.

camelgirl

Find out how to change your flight, just in case. Nothing much you can do.