Australian Travelling in europe need Indian Visa

knicci

Hey I am traveling in Europe and wonder if anyone knows if I am able to get a visa in any country? I am Australian but will be in Poland in a few days, i have a valid tourist visa from france (and the EU for that matter). Does anyone know if I can get an Indian Visa when i am just a tourist in the country where i apply for the visa?
Thanks for your time
kn

Haylo

It might help to have a quick glance at existing threads... See this thread, which was only started yesterday!

camelgirl

This question comes up often. That thread link is good but gets confusing with mixed information.

I always thought you could get an Indian visa at any Indian consulate in the world, if you have a valid passport, a couple of photos & the right form now usually available on-line.

The visa you get is based on your legal residence/passport and the agreements between your home country (passport) & India.

It's why people traveling in India whose visa expires head for Sri Lanka, Thailand or Nepal to get a new one.

I did that in the past but if I am wrong about this & things have changed--please tell me. I don't personally need the info as I have a 10 yr. visa (USA obtained) but I like to know what's going on.

What might take some time is how long it actually takes to get it. Some places take much longer than other. One day, one week, a couple of weeks. That's what you really need to know!

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Nick-H

That's my understanding too, not that I've ever tried.

However, they refer to their mission in your home country, and while local residents are getting their visas over the counter, or in a day or two, they are likely to keep you waiting a week or more.

lukehford

Hi Mate,

I am Australian and live in Prague, Czech Republic, and tried to apply for my Indian Tourist Visa here a few weeks back.

I would have assumed Poland was like Czech; fill out necessary forms, show your Schengen stamp, provide a couple photos and the visa fee (about $120) and in two weeks you will have your visa. However, I looked on the website for the Polish Indian Embassy, and it said you can only apply if you are a permanent resident or Poland? So you better call them to double-check.

Otherwise, take the bus/train (might avoid Krakow train following the crash), and apply at the Indian Embassy here in Prague. After all the shit I had to deal with applying for mine (i'm not exactly legal in Schengen), I can introduce you to the consular guys and hopefully they can do it quicker then the two weeks.

With two weeks you could do a few cities around Prague as the border checks are pretty much non-existent now.

Hope it helps.

Cheers,

Luke

Haylo

There have been reports on other threads about people only being able to obtain three month visas outside their own country.

I recall an Australian posting that if he had not been resident for a year, he would have had to fly back to Australia to get his Indian visa. Sorry, but I can't remember what country he was in, and I can't find the thread.

Mickey S

But no-one should ever depend on there being no border checks if they're travelling with insufficient documentation (which is, I think, what you're suggesting).

On a recent tour of that region by train, our passports were checked at every single international border, every time.

machadinha

To want to travel cross-border within Europe without the appropriate documents would be just as insane as anywhere else yes.

Moreover, carrying a valid ID is mandatory in many European countries anyway. Fines for failing to do so can be stiff, some 50 Euros if not more in NL last time I heard of it, and if it's clear you're a foreigner, I don't imagine you'd be let off with just that fine. Failure to produce one pronto (as in: It's back at the hotel or so, and provided you're dealing with a patient officer) would more likely result in deportation.

ps Note also that "Schengen" is not a country or even area. The Schengen Agreements and Convention are a set of agreements regarding border regulations between the majority of European countries (so named after the Luxembourg town in which they were signed).

Note also that instead of border controls, these have been replaced by flying squads instead, and you may well run into these anywhere in the countries involved, as well as still be checked at the borders, of course. Certainly in those countries now forming the buffer aka border zone (to the non-EU), or more internal ones renowned for their drugs and human trafficking and so on. Which, er, boils down to most of them.

I don't care what someone claiming to be "not exactly legal" here manages to do, and good for you, but please try to hand out remotely correct advice, and I'd personally look for someone a little more in the know and more solidly based to introduce me to anyone.

Knicci, see also this thread a while ago; how that would work for other nationalities and in other countries, I really can't tell you: Getting an Indian visa in Holland?

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Nick-H

I suspect that that is sound advice. It certainly comes from someone who lives in Europe.

I never understood this Schengen thing: I don't think UK is a part of it. They only pretended to join Europe!

All our advise about Indian visas all over the world is based on general advise, although sometimes someone may have specific experience. Unfortunately, India seems to be one of the least consistent in its rules and regulations, and whilst we may expect that anyone can pop into an Indian Embassy anywhere, there are exceptions, and procedures seem to vary from country to country.

lukehford

Officially no you wouldnt recommend someone travelling without papers, I was just offering some general information to a fellow aussie. Don't loose your skirt.

I actually am legal here in Schengen (yes i know what it is mate), as I have a dual-citizenship giving me a UK passport, but the Czechs are very bureaucratic and so it takes a long time to get an "alien stamp"... which the Indian embassy requires if you are a short-term resident (which I originally claimed).

machadinha

The skirt's still firmly on; there's just a little too much nonsense flying about internationally about things having gotten easier in Europe for illegals or those in the grey zone ever since the Schengen treaties and with so-called "open" borders, whereas the opposite is true rather, and I wouldn't like for IndiaMike to contribute to such false rumors. Of course, the idea has never been to make it easier on people to stay or move around here illegally.

Bear in mind also that being white and of Western origins may make it a very different ballgame than if you are not, in terms of what you can get away with or how likely you'll be to draw attention to yourself. All this with regards to staying or moving around within the EU mind, nothing to do with obtaining an Indian visa here or not.