Istanbul Indian consulate problems

arambolian

Hi there..Im living in Bulgaria and flying to india this season from Istanbul. Have been trying to get information from the embassy / consulate in istanbul about availablity, costs and processng times for 6 month tourist visas but not getting any response..and the additional research i am getting indicates that this is not a user friendly place for such things.
I have read that the consulate demands a 'note verbal' from its aplicants,at least those with american passports, which the american consulate is loath to produce, and this starts some sort of diplomatic situation where the applicant is caught in the middle. Time consuming, costly, unreliable. I am not an american..(phew)..and hold both a NZ and Australian passports..my partner German. Can anyone, non american, who has been thru the istanbul process recently enlighten me on what the situation is presently...cheers...

brownboy66

ok, so a kiwi/ocker with a german partner living in Bulgaria trying to get a visa for India......in Turkey? Crikey! If you write a blog or shoot a video about it you could make millions!

Check out these two links:

http://www.hicomind.org.nz/visafee.htm
http://www.hcindia-au.org/Consular_service.html

obviously the fees will be different - but based on your passport it should give you some idea of what applies to you. Having said that - it does not take into account the individual administrative practises the embassies/ high commissions seem to impose at time.

The "note verbal" sounds like the typical "write me a letter outlining what you want" sort of response you sometimes get - in which case make sure you make multiple copies for the multiple times you may need to submit it should (when) the first one gets lost.

So sorry - can't help specifically re visa applications in Turkey - but hopefully another IM member might have an idea.

good luck.

Nick-H

It is always more time-consuming to obtain a visa from a country other than the one in which you reside.

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arambolian

Thanx Nick and Brown boy...
and yes Nick, Im aware that applying for Indian Visas outside of my country of residence is obviously going to be more time consuming, and have, as an india phob had several occasions applied for visas in numerous countries other than my own for such a purpose, for example, Sweden, Germany, Thailand, Nepal, Bangladesh and even Pakistan...all embassies having thier quirks and idiosyncratic behaviors entrenched in thier own unique interpretation of indian bureaucratic consulatic mumbo jumbo. Hence my questions relating specificaly to the Istanbul Consulate.

Brown Boy...yes..ive oft thought that the permutations and combinations my life choices present me with could lead to if not interesting, at least humerous situations as the one you point out..sometimes the things we take ourselves as normal, the results of seemingly rational life descisions that unfold in thier beautiful unpredictable ways as they do, must seem rather wierd, wonderful and interesting..particularly to others less fortunate, or bold enuf, to step outside the dominant paradigms and throw caution to the wind...but hey..i doubt if ill ever be a millionaire because if it...anyhow,,dont wanna be..to be rich in life is good enuf for me...

brownboy66

nicely said!

Personally, one of the things I like about this transnational existence are the interesting mixtures you get - like on my second day in delhi going food shopping - with a Thai friend - in a super market with a french name - and listening to an old NZ song on the super market speaker sytem (and the song was "how bizzare" by OMC - and it was bizzare).

btw - is it a consulate or full embassy in Istanbul you will apply to? The only reason I ask is that if you have a choice it should be faster at a full embassy?

Benjamin_909

I am also in a similar situation, i will be in Istanbul for 11 days and am hoping i may be able to get my visa for India in that period of time.

Just trying to get in touch with the Indian consulate in Melbourne is hard enough, so i am not looking forward to trying to contact them in Turkey

machadinha

The Indian embassy in Turkey is here: http://www.indembassy.org.tr/ Seems to require some grasp of Turkish though

C'mon guys, a bit of web searching you can do yourselves.

ps Ah look here go: http://www.indembassy.org.tr/english/

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