Indian Visa in Spain

dephil13

I am a Brit living in Andalusia. Does anyone have recent experience on obtaining a visa from the Indian Consulate in Madrid. Am hoping to arrange flight to India for late September for a 6 week holiday probably via the UK.
I read somewhere on this site that there were major problems with the Embassy a couple of years ago and people were advised to call in person rather than posting the visa applications. Are things any better as Madrid is a long way from us?

stevebenaulim

Madrid is useless, i also live in Spain.
Go back to the Uk, take a cheap hotel in London,
you will get your visa in person in 3 days.
Better than waiting in Madrid for 5 days (maybe).

Sonj Crabb

Hi, I am also a Brit living in Spain, what a wonderful place to be last night when Spain won Euro 2008. There was a 500 metre string of huge fireworks laid along our village road which took about a minute to explode from one end to the other. Brillant and incredibly noisy!

I am collecting our visa from the travel agent tomorrow, he took our passports for three weeks and did it all for us. Cost about 125 Euros per visa. Cheaper and much less bother than going to Madrid or London ourselves! Check with a few travel agents and see if any of them offer a similar service.

stevebenaulim

Will the travel agent do your visas, if you dont book
your flights with them??.
I always book on line, as flights are cheaper.
What visa did you get in Madrid??.
Thx.

nycank

Where were you ? Placa Mayor ? or Puerto del Sol ?

Valini

It's not that easy now I'm afraid with the new VFS outsourcing (see the other thread UK outsourcing).
If you have a fixed address in England (perhaps your parents or kids depending on yur generation) it might be good to send it via them. Definately worthwhile paying the extra tenner to have it sorted out by an agency. They then contact VFS and the Embassy and take care of everything for you.
Be careful though if you are a permanant resident in Spain and have no residence in the UK. They may want proof of address or something.

You've got lots of time to sort it out though, so make haste and get it over and done with. Don't find yourself in the same situation as many of us our now waiting on tender hooks.

colin c

which travel agents did you use , my lad want to come to india this year , he lives near calahonda

avogadro

Hello. As a spanish I got my visa by normal mail. I only had to send my passport, three photos, an envelop with three euros in stamps and the applicattion filled, and 50 euros paid by Correos Office to the Indian Embassy in Spain.

In less than ten days they sent me (to the address I wrote in the envelop) the multiple Visa.

As an english citizen I cannot be sure but you only need to ask the embassy. I do not think you will have problems to get the Visa as far as you have an spanish address.

Luck.

__________________
Caminante no hay camino, se hace camino al andar

dephil13

Thanks to Avogadro, I decided to bite the bullet and apply to the Madrid embassy by post. As we're not Spanish we had to enclose a copy of our Residentia and unknown to us at the time, 72 euros each. Sent by recorded delivery on a Friday and my wife received a telephone call from the embassy the following Tuesday ,telling her we had only sent 50 each and that additional 44 euros needed. Copy of the money order faxed that Friday and 2 weeks later we've just received the passports with appropriate visas. Did try to get hold of them this week. Wife got thru on Wednesday and was told she would be contacted that afternoon to update on progress. No call was forthcoming.
If we hadn't messed up the cost, probably would have taken around 2 weeks. Pretty good service.

Mickey S

Do you really think two weeks to issue a visa is "good service"?

dephil13

Not as bad as I thought it would be. Certainly better and cheaper than spending 3 days in London or 5 in Madrid! Pity they don't do e-visas like Cambodia. Now that is a great service.
Perhaps it isn't the best service in the world but it was better than the British embassy in Madrid. My wife recently had to renew her passport. It was sent by courier with the address of a bar in the nearby village as we live half way up a mountain. The bar was closed when the courier turned up in Cadiar so he gave it to a passerby who spoke english. She handed it into the bar when it was open. We didn't know her and she didn't know us. Lucky there are some honest people about!

stevebenaulim

OK, If i apply by post, can someone please explain to me in easy terms,I.E Mthod of payment, i understand i must pre pay, but where and how.
Im non Spanish, but i have Spanish residency.
Many thanks

I have learnt, i must pay by Giro postal??.
Is this paid into the Embassys account or is it a cheque
issued by the post office, to be sent with my application''
THX

Please either, or both delphil 13 or avogadro, you have both got your visas by post??, please explain to me, the best way??.
And more important, what is the method of payment, i dont understand what is this postal credit??.
Thanks,

hellsbellsbaby

I've just been on the phone to the Indian Embassy in Madrid and she gave me information totally different to anything I've seen or heard before .

I was told I would need 3 photos , plus 72 euros and I could not have a year visa , does she honestly think I'll be trying to stop there ?

When I mentioned that their site wasn't working she just kept saying yes come into the office....I live in Mallorca , I will not be popping into your embassy .

Why is this such a farce...
Does anyone here know anything different to this & why is it never straight forward .

Mickey S

The website of the Indian Embassy in Madrid makes it quite clear that you need 3 photographs and that a standard multiple-entry tourist visa lasts 6 months. It also makes clear that the visa costs €50 plus an additional €22 in telex fees for applications from non-Spaniards.

So there's no inconsistency.

hellsbellsbaby

but as I said , i can't get onto their website and was on another site with this other information .