Visa application and Extension

jaguatirica

2 questions:

Is it reasonnable to apply for visa 1 week before flying (for UK resident in london)? What would be the latest I could leave it?

I am planning to stay in India a bit longer than 6 months for practical reasons.Does anybody knows if it is possible to extend a visa in the Ministry of home Affairs, Delhi (for an extra 2 weeks) after being in India for 1 month and a half?

machadinha

Visas are not extendible, period, no matter how soon or late in India you'd apply for them. You'd need to leave the country to apply for an entirely new one. Any guidebook or decent website and your embassy and ministry of foreign affairs and your visa itself should say the same, so I never understand where the question comes from, if you don't mind me saying so.

An exception and on a very temporary basis are acute and provable emergencies (as in medical, or having everything you have on you robbed from you), and I wouldn't advise trying in anything but, and you can count on it involving a lot of bureaucratic hassle.

What visa processing times in UK might be I don't know.

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sssall

As long as your paper work is in order, you can get a visa a day before travel. (maybe on the same day too)

Get to the embassy early ie around 8am and the whole process will take 2-3 hours.

Take a queue number card from the window just outside the entrance and then wait inside for your turn. Make sure you wait in the right hall. This will depend on the colour of your card. One hall is down stairs and the other up stairs.

Once you have handed in your passport and application then you will need to wait just over an hour before you can collect your visa.

The visa starts from the day of your application.

Hope this helps.

zoltan

1) Leaving it until the last minute (or day), to get your visa could prove foolhardy, in case there are unforseen emergeneices (eg. you get delayed; the office is closed for some reason; etc.)

This would mean you have no visa to get to India which means your airline would refuse you entry onto the aircraft.

2) As mentioned above, by machadinha, overstaying your visa is another headache. Unless you have a genuine emergency, you could find yourself: a) jailed for overstaying the visa b) refused re-entry into the country.

Visa extensions are not possible. YOu would have to leave the country; apply for a new visa and then return to India.

Expensive, but it's their country; their law.

Cheers
Zoltan

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sssall

Zoltan, you're right as usual. You would only leave visa to the last minute in an emergency.

Indian embassies have the same holidays as Indian holidays, so it is best to check beforehand if the embassy is open. The embassy website has quite a lot of useful information.

zoltan

> Zoltan, you're right as usual.

It's good to know that I haven't "lost it" since leaving LP's forums

Cheers
Zoltan

sundowner

Are you British? If you happen to be American then there's always the possibility of an 5-10 year visa.
You could also try and get a 1 year visa, people still get them from the UK but as first time visitor with no other purpose than tourism the chances are slim.

Nick-H

Even if you were American, and did get a longer-term visa, the maximum single stay would be 180 days.

India is not easy-going on visa issues, and is tightening up. See the recent post about getting a new visa in Nepal from Sirensongs in this thread

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