Interline Area Permits (with existing visa)

RamblinMan

Greetings,

I am asking this for a friend but also might have the same problem very soon. I have not been able to get an application for a permit to enter Kalimpong. The friend for whom I am asking (and I, too) have a tourist visa already, which might have complicated this issue. The third-party service in San Francisco, which issued the visa, replied to my email by saying there's a place on a visa application to request an IA permit (which I didn't notice at the time), but since I already have a visa, I must apply at the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC, or else at some inconvenient address in India. This is where it starts to get interesting.

I called the Indian Chancery in Washington and left a voicemail requesting a callback. (Too much to ask, right?) My sister happens to work in The District, so she went to the Indian Chancery on my behalf. She was told that they have no IA permit applications and that I should go to the Consulate in San Francisco. Arrrggghhh!

(BTW, many years ago I acquired IA permits through email from Washington while still in the U.S. and once received one for Gangtok while waiting in Darjeeling.)

Okay, San Francisco is not too far out of the way for me to drive, but my friend's travel date is end of May, and I might go to Kalimpong later this year. My friend will first go to Kathmandu.

Any experiential wisdom with you folks? It seems like the options are:

Drive to the Counsulate in S.F.
Find that obscure office in India
Find a different obscure office in Kathmandu.

Thank you,
RamblinMan, trying to live up to his name

machadinha

? I wasn't aware you need a permit to visit Kalimpong at all. That tells you very little and it could well be true, mind. I thought the requirement had been lifted around two decades ago though.*

You/they'll have to land somewhere in India right? Permits can normally be obtained at the appropriate departments in any of the metros, probably and preferably Delhi or Kolkata for that region. They shouldn't be all that obscure, guidebooks will likely list them, or the web may help you out.

http://www.wbtourism.com/kalimpong/index.htm also makes no mention of this.

* A quick web search would seem to confirm that no, no permit is needed.

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RamblinMan

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ouch. Well, truth be told, it was THREE decades since I was last in one of those IA areas. I have read that such a permit is still needed for Sikkim, but that is not the destination.

I sent an enquiry to the WBTourism site, but I am going to advise my friend that, AFAIK, no permit is required. Also, I still have a friend in Kalimpong, but he seemed unsure when i asked him, but maybe that's because he's a resident and not a tourist.

Anyway, thanks a lot for the answer and the URL.

I am left wondering why the person at the Indian Chancery told my sister what she said? Weird.

RamblinMan

dzibead

Cross-posted with RamblinMan

No special permit is required for Kalimpong.

If you and your friend are going over to nearby Sikkim, however, you will need a permit for that part of the trip. You can easily get it from the consulate in San Francisco. It's good for 15 days after entry into Sikkim (and it's possible to get it extended in Gangtok).

You can also get the permit to enter Sikkim at the West Bengal/Sikkim border at Rangpo, but that permit is only good for a few days and then you have to get the longer permit in Gangtok. To apply at Rangpo, you need 2 passport size photos and photocopies of your passport. All in all it's better to get it before you leave for India.

machadinha

<cross-posted with Dzi>

Probably just to (affirmatively) answer the query that was asked. You may find that aspect of India at least hasn't changed... (Q: Shall I go left or right? A: Sure!)

Yes, Sikkim has permit requirements (not very complicated though I believe), but northern West Bengal: No, really, to my best knowledge that's all over. I was thinking you were referring to way back when yes. Well -- glad to have helped. Stick around for further questions, and welcome to IndiaMike

Oh, and to all others: When applying for your visa, just tick any special permits for required areas you might remotely want to visit yes. To my knowledge these may or may not be granted and they may or may not mean something on the ground, but it's a start.

dzibead

Because a lot of consular personnel have no earthly idea what they're talking about.

Once a woman in the Indian consulate in SF told me that, as a person who was not an Indian national, I could not visit any Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in India without a special permit that had to be separately applied for and would take six months to get. This is just wrong. What she was thinking of was the "Protected Area Permit" that's needed for foreigners to visit Tibetan settlements - but these are needed only for actual "settlements", not every town/area that has a lot of ethnic Tibetans living in it and not for any Tibetan Buddhist monastery regardless of location. No special permit is required for Dharamsala/McLeod Ganj, for example. Tourists visit Tibetan Buddhist monasteries all over India all the time and there's no prohibition against it whatsoever if they aren't in a Protected Area. The consular woman actually made me give an "undertaking" in writing stating that I would not visit any Tibetan Buddhist monasteries while in India. Needless to say, I completely ignored this when I got there, since none of the places I visited was in a Protected Area anyway.

You'd think someone working at the consulate would get the technicalities right, wouldn't you? Hahahahahahahaha ...

Madhu10

I just checked my Visa application and there was no box for special permits. I left messages but of course nobody has returned my calls. Now I wonder whether you need to call the outsouring to ask these questions or the consulate. One more added element to get answers.

*Rant*Why is that nobody answers the phone in a consulate...be it any consulate. Not just Indian.*rant over*

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dzibead

In my experience, replace "consulate" with "any government office"

machadinha

Yes; your story reminds me Dzi of a Tibetan monastery where I stayed, which according to the web these days requires rather involved permits procedures. All I know is I just washed up there by bus & was almost immediately taken up by some enthusiastic young monk who let me share his room (in fact I think he even temporarily moved out on my behalf, despite my protestations).

I'm never sure if maybe the monastery reconsidered the likes of me just washing up there, or if those permits today are just the government doing its govt. thing. (Nor is it clear from stories here if they are or aren't actually needed on the ground for that area. This is actually in what would be deemed a settlement though I think, and I was told there were local frictions because of it. On the other hand, not a Protected Area I don't think.)

Yes, sorry, this may have changed, or differ per place, I don't know. Where I live it used to be you could indicate any (or some) special permits needed, in fact you'd be asked about it I think. But it's been a while.