Torn: Sri Lanka or Bangkok

Hi - I've been reading all these visa threads with a heightening sense of confusion. I need to 'renew' (as accurate a word as I can find) my tourist visa in July - I do need a 6 month visa really and from what I've read it seems that there's no sure fire way of getting this... typical!

Does anyone have any recent experience in Bangkok that they could share with me? It seems like in Sri Lanka you are only going to get three months - has anyone had any other response from there recently?

Any help or direction would be appreciated before I go booking flights. Thanks.

there's a war on in Sri Lanka
there's something that might get to be civil war in Nepal
things aren't to clever in Thailand either

seriously suggest you go back to the UK for your new visa (NOT renew)

AndyD 8-)#

You could also go to Dubai.

I think we'd have heard a lot about it if that were possible.

AndyD

Why would this not be possible? Dubai has an Indian consulate, is a short flight from India, and there are tons of flights.

Just my two bits.. Sri Lanka is scary... if you like a military presence EVERYWHERE, fine... if not, well, there are better choices..like.. Mauritius. India on an island with beaches, lovely people and more..

Aum

From what I hear there are two cities in SL to do it in, some people have reported more favorably on doing it in one than the other (the one that isn't in the capital then being rumoredly more favored). Others don't. Some again report getting 6 months on a first try, 3 months only on a subsequent try (and/or none at all on later tries; or any possible mixture of these three options). Others don't.

That's about as definitive as it's gonna get I'm afraid and as far as I know, sorry.

Merchant's right btw, of course you can apply in any country that has an Indian embassy. For back-to-back visas however my understanding is that the official stipulation at least is that you need to do it in your home country; and may well be refused there.

Indian consulates come in many shapes and sizes and do not all offer the same services.

Those in the Gulf States are there purely for the benefit of the vast number of Indian citizens resident there and clearly state on their websites that this is the case.

As Andy said, with the amount of discussion about easy destinations to apply for a new visa taking place here, why would everybody have missed/ignored one of the closest and easiest to reach?

What research made you decide to advise people to travel to Dubai for a visa, by the way?

Although the UAE Indian Embassy website does state
the Consulate in Dubai's website says So, it looks as if it would not be a problem for a non resident to obtain an Indian tourist visa in Dubai.

Probably because most people seeking back to back visas in India are looking to reduce costs, and Dubai seems like an expensive place to stay while a visa application is being processed.

Additionally, it simply isn't on the "backpacker circuit" so it just wouldn't occur to a lot of people to apply there - it's so much easier to "go with the flow" instead of doing your own research, and finding information about people's experiences in places like Nepal where so many backpackers and long termers end up extending their Indian visas is pretty easy, you only have to look at the number of posts on here.

In a nutshell, I don't think that a visit to Dubai is something that appeals to some of the travellers who love India, as much as a visit to Nepal would.

That is of course correct, Haylo; and then if, besides the Subcontinent proper -- and the old idea to many will of course have been to just simply hop over a land border & back --, SE Asia is considered at all (and so rarely ever the Middle East or Central Asia or something; Why? Because it's "on the trail" again), people seem to get little further than considering Thailand. (I just checked the Indonesian consular site for instance; no explicit mention there that foreign applicants will not be entertained.)

So the possible options would seem legion (I doubt they'd guarantee anything, but then neither do the popular options seem to do so anymore); check this official page to list a number of them, and then there are many more not covered there, but which can be found on the web (or with defunct URLs that you'd simply need to look up): http://meaindia.nic.in/onmouse/mission.htm.

It's hard to say of course, but one wonders if such places where people looking to do the visa run aren't such a common phenomenon might not prove the better option at least for the time being. I guess it should be clear to all by now that no matter what option you choose, you need to be ready to be refused & so sent back home; or at least not onwards to India.

Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangkok are your cheapest options. Also Singapore and Malaysia might be good alternatives.

KL is the only place I've heard of that you might get a 6 month. I know an elderly couple who have twice been lucky.

Hello - sorry to be pessimistic but I have found that getting a second 6 month is just about impossible in Sri Lanka and Thailand. Only way you MIGHT get it in Thailand is if you stay there some time before applying. I have experience in Kandy and COlombo Sri Lanka and I got the same story - 3 months and same thing Bangkok and that was the experience of people I met at the embassy.
One possible way round it - get a new passport - leave the country on the old one and go in on the new one and dont tell them you had a visa before. it worked for me as a UK citizen....
Also you can try Malaysia - a girl I know has had luck there a couple of times.
But I wouldnt worry about the war in Sri Lanka - its true there are a lot of police checks but I dont think there is a big danger and I've been there twice in the past year...
Good luck

The Devil or The Deep Blue Sea. Personally - I'd choose Sri Lanka. Thailand is about to enter a period of increasing turmoil - Sri Lanka is coming out of such a time!

The political situation in Sri Lanka is fine now, just the frequent chekposts in Colombo. But you have no chanses of getting 6 months, I even couldn't get 3... And so many people have already failed getting 6 months in Colombo before. Same about Nepal. Really, the best opportunity for you Ansie is to return to the UK, just not to be dissapointed about the wasted time and money.