indian visas in america

Forgive me, please if this info exists elsewhere, I am exhausted and need to get to bed.

Does anybody know if it is acceptable in the states to get your visa from an Indian consulate outside of your "jurisdiction?" I live in Cleveland (yes! Cleveland!), but am going to San Francisco at the end of this month and would like to get my visa there instead of dealing with it in the mail, and also b/c I read on this forum that that's a good place to get a 10 year tourist visa.

What say you?

thanks in advance,
kiki

my hunch would say no. this is because as we both know jurisdictions exist. indians are quite sticklers on these sorts of issues. bureaucrats can also be petty....why should 'i' have to do the work of 'the other' consulate/embassy...

the caveat would be if you walked the paperwork in. id say youd stand decent chance -but id beware of questions they might toss at you such as -what are you doing in sf??

the answer should have purpose. not just hanging out. you want to be employed and productive.

dress smartly!


my .02

I am going to apply for my Indian visa in a few days (as soon as my new passport arrives). I didn't realize that it is possible to get a 10 year tourist visa....what is the difference between that and a regular visa? I'm not sure if I will be able to go to India again quickly--but considering how much the visa costs, it might be worth it to have a ten year option. I don't have time to go to the embassy myself--I'm going to have the travel agency do it for me.

I'm still in shock over how much I had to pay for the FIRST round of our Hepatitus shots yesterday: about $75 each for me and my daughter.

India may be a cheap country once we get there--but it sure is costing alot to get out of the door!

Kiki: I've heard that they are going to stop issuing those 10-year visas... though I can't remember the source of that info.

Since you can get the visa in one day here in San Francisco, I don't see any reason why you can't get it here -- but you'd have to use a friend's address. I'm sure it wouldn't be the first time such a thing was done. Now I think you might have to use that same address on all your hotel registrations, too.

Diane: My vaccinations for India came to just about $200 at the SF Public Health clinic. Typhoid, DPT, hepatitis A, and a flu shot.

Thanks for these replies. Republic: I am planning to walk in. I am going there to visit an old friend. Wonderwoman: I looked again at their website and decided it would be better to try for a 1 year tourist visa rather than a 10 year anyway since it is considerably less expensive and I only need 9 months. I am leary of using a false address, as it could potentially cause LOTS of problems down the line. Yikes! I'll be calling them in a few hours (have to wait for the office to open). I'll post their answer.
thanks all!

You can do all this stuff through the mail, too. Is there a one-year tourist visa? I thought they were six months for Americans.

I recently got my 10 year visa, from the SF consulate, no problem.

I live in So. Ca., so I Fed Ex'd the application with the additional $15 for the express mail(recommended by the consulate) return, and received my passport back with the shiny new 10 yr visa pasted inside, within a week!!

This will be my first trip to India, and the 10 yr option was more expensive. I may never use the 10 yr visa again, but, if my hunch is right,(and judging by all of the forum members!) it will end up being very cost effective for me in the end!

KariB
29days and 1 more Hep shot to go!

The year visa only allows you to stay for six months at a stretch.

okay. I just got off the phone with the SF consulate and they say as long as I come to the counter, there's no problem with issuing me a visa. They also say no prob for getting a 10 year! Yippee!

Neo: yes, even with a 10 year, you must leave the country every 6 months.

Merchant: yes, there is a 1 year, but you have to leave after 6 months.

35 days til I fly awaaaaayyyyyy!!

Have a great trip, and keep us posted on your adventures.

Thanks! I have every intention of doing exactly that.

what's the difference in price between a 1 year and a10 year visa?

I'm not sure if it's uniform across all consulates. Better to check the bebsite of whichever consulate you'll be using.

Thanks for the advice. I went to the Indian Embassy Japan homepage and found that my daughter can get a visa in 1 day and pays a significant amount less than I do--she is a Japanese national (no point in bringing her US Passport, I guess). American's pay a special fee, plus a non Japanese fee.

I am still waiting for my US passport to be renewed--I sent it in on January 9th, immediately after coming back from the USA. I don't like being passportless in a foreign country--especially if there is an emergency that comes up back home. It used to take only a few days, but after 9/11 things are so different.....

I also meant to say it doesn't look like they issue 10 year visas from Japan--or at least they aren't advertised.

Oh, hey, if she has two passports, she should bring both. Last time I was in India I met a woman who had two passports and she had spent 2 consecutive years in India by leaving with one passport and returning the next day with the other. Since then I've been wishing I could get 2 passports!