Indian Visa Service in The Netherlands

Thank you very much for answering my question.

Have contacted the visumburo by email.
They answered;
That indeed it is obligated to show proof of an "optional" airline booking. Also a letter to the embassy which states the reason for visiting India for six months.
Will let you know how it turned out;-).

Thank you for your answer, Elmo (and is that a lovely avatar, or what! ).

An interesting turn of phrase; you might want to ask them what is meant by this, if you haven't already.

It would appear to suggest, wouldn't it, that indeed you can take an option on a flight ticket and present this. It would give you some leeway of whatever couple of days are needed for the visa processing (could be longer for the 6-months application? I really wouldn't know, but I guess everything suggests it would merit closer scrutiny by the embassy. So to other readers: In the present Dutch case, this stuff is specific to here, it won't work like that in most other countries, though it might in some. I do have the impression e.g. length of stay on a tourist visit in India is being brought back for more nationalities, but it all seems just highly inconsistent), before finalizing the purchase.

This would no doubt involve dealing with a travel agent directly, so not booking online -- and one who is willing to hold on to that ticket for you for a few days, perhaps at a downpayment --, and that ticket's price and conditions may and likely will fluctuate before you do buy it. It's not much of an improvement, but it beats being stuck with a worthless ticket. I don't readily see how the embassy would find it convincing, either, but it is of course possible they came up with this by way of some sort of compromise. (Of course in fact the option on a ticket is as good as nothing, so they might as well not have the requirement at all, like indeed they hadn't forever. Ah, bureaucracy...)

It would be most handy for Dutchies here to know the outcome. So, if you can, do please let us know how it all goes.

And, of course, good luck with it, and regarding your own travel plans. Have you been to India before?

The whole visa application thing went faster than i thought! I sent my papers and passport (as well as my girlfriend's) last week. And even before I recieved the payment link in my inbox, I recieved my passport with a fresh Indian visa yesterday!

An attack on your wallet aside, the Visumburo service is pretty good. Looks like we've got something to look forward to for real now! Too bad we're still a month away from september 8th

groetjes uit Arnhem

Hi Elmo, how did it turn out? You got you're 6 months visa? I'll submit the documents for 6 months visa the upcoming week (for a 4,5 month trip) and like to know my changes :-)

A few weeks ago I applied for 6 months with confirmed flighttickets, bankstatements, travelplans etc. We will stay for 3 months in India and Nepal. My son (11 years) got exactly the whole travel period plus 1 week. I only got 3 months so 5 weeks short. The girl working at the office in Amsterdam found it very strange and suggested me to contact the embassy. It is really difficult to contact them. So I take my changes and will apply for a transitvisa in Nepal.