Indian Visa Service in The Netherlands

When i applied for my Visa in february, i found out that instead of having to travel to Den Haag (i live in Amsterdam), i could have asked for my visa at this very practical Visa office in town ... and that was a real good finding!

So for all of you people living in Amsterdam, here's some info and contact details for the Indian Visa Service:


Indian Visa Service "Het VisumBuro"

Veemarkt 230
1019 DG Amsterdam

Opening Hours office Amsterdam 09.00 - 17.00


"Visa applications can be delivered at our counter between 09.00-17.00, but will not ready for collection on the same day. These applications are ready for pickup at the 3rd workingday. Only for Dutch passports, EU passports with valid residence permit or registration cityhall and only for tourist and business visa. Issuing visa is at the discretion of the Embassy. Same applies for other Nationalities and other types of visas."


- Indian Visa Service (general info)

- Het VisumBuro (site in dutch)


Happy Visa everybuddy!

Good post Larkilli, and good news for all Dutchies.

To add, and this is just from the info on those sites, I've no direct experience with it:

It would appear that the whole visa issuing process has been outsourced to those two companies, who reside in both Amsterdam and Den Haag (The Hague). It appears at least the Visa Service handles applications by mail as well, or even prefers this. The VisumBuro says it also has an office in Brussels (Belgium); crummiest site I've seen in a while btw, haven't looked at it very in-depth.

Going by those sites, the Embassy of India in The Hague no longer handles visa applications for holders of Dutch passports, EU passports with valid residence permit or registration cityhall and only for tourist and business visa. It seems that all other applications will still be handled by the embassy.

http://www.indianvisaservice.nl/pages/EN/index.php :

http://www.indianembassy.nl/page181000.htm :

* Note: That site given by the Embassy for the VV Visumdienst is actually yet another third one, has English info as well: http://www.visumdienstindia.nl

I bought my last visum through this service in Amsterdam in January and was very satified. It is more expensive then it was (now 65 euros, it was 50 euros), but its worth it. Previously I had to spend money on the train ticket to the Hague, so..

I got a tourist visa in january in the Hague office, and it was such a huge change from before. No more picking number 65, while the actual number is stuck at three and having to hear complaints from other people applying for visa. I came to the visa service office, and nobody was there!! So I dropped off the application in one minute and picked it up a few hours later

(What was missing of course was the smell of India in the embassy and almost feeling you are there already How to they do that??? !!)

They send it over in empty sutcases.

Maybe I should post this in a general visa thread.. I am not sure. Anyway. I am going to India again in Agust. My current visum expires July 15 or so, and I will be leaving Aug. 2. I have already four visa in my current passport which is valid until april 2009. I am getting a bit scared lately of the chances that I will not get another visum as I have had so many already. Should I worry about this? Is it "safer" to apply for my next visum with a brand new passport which shows no traces of previous India visits? Any advice is welcome!

No, I don't know what to advise.

You'd think they have your visa history on record anyway. Conversely, having it visibly presented in your passport to some lower official could be yet another thing.

Finally, I haven't been able to make head nor tail so far of how worrying that back-to-back situation should really be. If it were a real problem, you'd expect a lot more horror stories to that effect on this board, I assume we have many frequent visitors.

But for your peace of mind, maybe a new passport would be better then. I really wouldn't know. (If you intend to keep visiting at this rate though, could work out to be a costly affair in the future if you have to renew your passport all the time [not to mention come up with a reason for your own passport peeps to do so -- it was stolen again, sir/ma'am?] , don't you think. Going by some reports, it may work out that soon you'll have stay home for a given period before re-entering at all though. No one seems to know and it all seems quite murky. On the brighter side perhaps, I haven't seen a single report yet that this should be a problem coming from The Netherlands. Which doesn't tell you much, just that I haven't seen any.)

ps As a final thought, to the extent that we do hear some worrisome reports at all, it may make all the difference that you're applying for the new visa in your own country, so not obviously border-hopping somewhere near to India. But that's really just speculation on my part; I really really am not able to give you any reliable advice.

Yeah great, they outsourced the work but are still collecting the full fee of 50 Euro's. The visabureau only gets the extra 15 euro.
Waiting outside the embassy for a couple of hours did have it's charm though and allready brought you in the india mood.

Hans

btw A note here that according to some new stipulation, those without a fixed (or any; including students* and housewives** and the likes, and the unemployed of course) job*** need to supply a/some recent bank statement(s) when applying for the visa in NL.

No big deal as such (I guess it might be if those statements don't show you have some remotely regular form of income or are otherwise self-sufficient), handy to be aware of though I reckon.

* I take it additionally students are required to show their registration with the Informatie Beheer Groep, basically showing you're a student. And a recent bank statement as well, then (rendering the former a little redundant you'd think, but oh well).

** One would assume not applicable if traveling with a dutifully employed legal partner. Who knows really.

*** I'm actually not perfectly clear on the stipulations regarding the self-employed among us. Will ask when I'm there.

Regarding **: even though travelling with an employed legal partner as a non-employed housewife/mother etc you still have to supply a recent bank statement in your own name with a reasonable amount in it (a bank statement with only let's say 20 euros will not do).

And yes, for an employment visa of 1 year (and the accompanying spouse and ia children) you still have to go to the Embassy in Den Haag.

Mod Note: After careful consideration the Mod Team has decided to delete a number of recent posts that contribute little to the main purpose of this thread. In order for this thread to remain a sticky, please keep only to pertinent facts re Visa requirements and procedures. Discussions about India - Netherlands diplomatic relations etc. can be carried out in Masala Chai and Chat if members wish to argue with each other. Personal information can be PM'd to each other.
The thread will now be made a sticky again. The main purpose of sticky threads here are for members to readily see what needs to be done when applying for their Indian visas - they don't want to have to wade through other slightly off-topic matters.

As I described here, the self-employed should be, well, self-employed. There's a caption for you to fill in regarding your employer, that would just be yourself in this case. It shouldn't be a problem.

I don't know about visa services elsewhere btw but in NL these people are quite reasonable and approachable, you'll have some room there to discuss your needs. As in opposed to often rigid embassy personnel.

As an FYI just obtained my employment visa, for which you still have to apply and attend the Indian embassy in person.

It was a rather painful experience requiring multiple visits but got there in the end...

I got a tourist visa in late 2007 through visumburo at very, very short notice and they were excellent.

I have 7 Indian visa in my Dutch passport, issued over a period of 4,5 years and never had a problem obtaining a new one. Nowadays, when you don't have a regular job, you will have to show a bank account statement on your name, although you can fill in any job on the application form, they won't check, as the lady at the counter told me last time.

Enjoy!

ok folks.. lets keep our fingers crossed for my visa request!

last year, i got a nice six months visa from the Visum Bureau here in Amsterdam, but as stated above in other posts, few things have changed regarding the documents you need to provide in order to get the visa if you're not dutch (and applying for it in Holland).

As an italian officially living in Holland, this year my application will be sent to the Indian Embassy in Rome... and that's where i have to pray St.Visum for having a new 6 months one, as it seems italians resident in Italy have only chance to get 3 months at a time (talking about Tourist Visa that is..).

One more thing i had to provide this time was my bank statement, as not having an official income/job at the moment (am in between journeys and jobs...).

Will keep ya all posted when the answer will arrive - cheerio!