Argh Conference visa and tourism..

Hi,
first time poster but need some advice

I'm going to a conference in periyar and will be in india from 17th March to 14th April. The conference ends on the 27th March so the lovely guy in the Indian embassy in Dublin gave me a visa from 20 feb to 3 April telling me this was enough tourism time to see the country

From reading up on this conference visas are similar to tourist visas are they not. As in maximum of 180 days and from the the Indian Consular and Visa Section it even states that conference visas can be combined with tourism..

Basically I need an 11 day extension, making my entire visa less than 2 months but the guy wouldn't give it to me. (even though other people I'm going to the conference with got 2 month visas). He said I can go to immigration in the Airport when I get to India and they will do it no problem...will they?? Is this alot of hastle?? Is it going to cost me more??

I'm very annoyed and can't see why they can't just give me the 11 days extension here...I'm going to keep trying with them but if worst comes to worst will the visa extension be as easy as they guy said??

I don't know much about this but do know for a fact that visa extension is done here in Pune. Sorry don't know any details as such.

I wonder when your visa expires , i think normaly it is valid for 6 months , if it is not stated in your visa stamp
so it means you have to leave the country on or before the last date of validity of your visa
i never heard about the confernce visa

Hi Spudy, welcome to IM.
From what I understand about visa's in any country is this: A visa is basically a stamp that says you have permission to enter the country, the dates mentioned on it are merely dates within which you need to enter the country(NOT exit). The immigartion stamp(which you get at the port of entry) is what dictates the number of days you will be allowed to stay in the country, so yes! if you get to meet a nice immigarion officer, you can mention the no of days you want to stay. But, do remember that each kind of visa(business, tourist, conference, student etc) stipulates a set no of days you are allowed to stay. So if a conference visa stipulates 14days you will have to apply for an extension.
Phew! Hope thats easy to understand

But rest assured, some others on IM will be able to help out with their own experiences and views.
BTW have you checked the Passports and Visa section under forums? there might be someone who's answered this already.

i got it today and its valid from 20 feb to the 3rd of april (date of expiry)...but the stamp underneath says stay no longer than 180 days...

The conf visa is essentially the same as the tourist one but you can't apply for a tourist one if your going to a conference..but you can be a tourist on a conf visa..

There seems to be no rule of thumb as my supervisor applied for same visa and got a 2 month one while I just got over a month... so if I end up getting it extended in the airport it will no doubt cost me a load of money..

thanks Ro-anD for the help. So your saying the visa date issue and expiry means I have to enter the country within that time but as long as I leave within 180 days of the issue date (maybe) I'll be fine..?. I think the conference visa is the same length as a tourist one..its at least 2 months anyway...

Wrong information! Indian visas are valid from the date of issue, not the date of entry.

Spudy, sorry to tell you this but extension of a visa is not granted very easily in India. Extension of visa is only granted for very serious reasons not for the type of reason you would give. In your case have about a 0% chance of getting your visa extended and because of this you should either apply for a fresh visa before leaving your home country or just forget about it.

hmmm..ok. Guess I'm wrong then Sorry to have got your hopes up!
Its not the same for US visas.
Do let us know how is works out in the end.

Ok well the date of issue isn't a problem. Its the fact the expiry date is only just over a month after the date of issue when I need it to be nearly 2 months that's worrying me.

Should I be worried that the expiry date on the visa is the 3rd when I'm in India until the 11th ( Is this expiry date the last day I can enter the country?? Or the last day I can be in the country?)

Or will the immigration guys put the date of exit on my passport when I enter the country - taking into account the visa that I have (supposed to be a 3 month one) and the date of issue on the visa and ignoring the visa expiry date...if I show them my departure flight details etc...

edit to add:
argh people are replying as I reply!! Em the guy in the embassy told me it would be no problem to get the immigration guys to stamp it in the airport. He stressed that it really wouldn't be an issue. I asked could I apply for a tourism visa instead and he said no...Should I contact them and try and confirm this??

And I can't forget it. I'm presenting a paper at the conference and its the most important conference on my research subject to be held anywhere in the last 3 years...I have to go.

You should be worried. If the expiry date is the 3rd then you have to leave India by that date. No ifs and buts unless you don't mind going to jail.

thats not good then. The guy in the embassy was lying to me then?

Not lying, just misinformed.

I'm going to have to go back to the embassy and try and get them to change the expiry date...which I really hope they will do. But doubt they will.

If that doesn't work then I'll have to go for a new visa but then I'm still not guaranteed to get the right dates on it. It does say specifically on the indian consular website that conference visas can be combined with tourism for a stay of 3 months so I can't see why they would not give me one for 2 months. Especially as the other people I'm going with have gotten their visas for that length of time..

Back to queuing in the embassy then..

went back to embassy and have had to pay for a tourist visa - although he said that during the conference if there's any problems then 'On my head be it' (said very ominously...).

He did say again that there would be no problem extending the visa once I got into India by asking immigration but when I asked whether he could give me something in writing to prove that this would be the case but he said no..

Was informed that the maximum stay on a conference visa is a few days either side of the conference.

Got back to work to see an email from the Indian Embassy telling me that the maximum stay on a conference visa is 3 months if you want to combine it with tourism and that there would be no problem my getting a visa to cover both the conference and tourism after.

Confused.

To say the least.

Think I'm not going to argue at this stage and just get my tourist visa and risk going to the conference on it.

There's nothing else I can do....

If theres any problems I can always do my 10 min presentation at the conference and then be a tourist for the rest of it - skipping the talks and wandering around periyar instead...

At this stage I'm wondering whether its because I'm female and single that I'm having these problems..

hmmm.... First of all don't think that just because u're female & single that this is happening. We like to be beaureucratic & cryptic as far as possible -Source Indian embassay (unofficial). I don't think so that u should have any problems. Also we don't like to write anything down, I know westerners are usually sticklers for details (understand that) but that shouldn't be an issue. I haven't heard of a single person(whether male/female) thrown out of the country just because of attending a conference while having a tourist visa. In fact if u had asked before booking the conference visa would have asked u to have a tourist visa. Much less painless.
A question what advantage do u get if u have a conference visa instead of a tourist visa?
Also would disagree with Goanchuck for extension of visas thing. This happens all the time in Pune, of course not with the impunity it used to happen before (trying to slam down on some of drug trade & students over-staying etc.) but to genuine tourists who wanna be here they do oblige. Although I didn't do it myself but know of 3 families whom I helped getting it.