Visa free travel / Visa on Arrival for Indians

Nick-H

I'll leave that to someone else.

The politician I had in mind wasn't, I don't think, making a quick buck that time... he was trying to take another woman out of the country on his wife's passport!

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matt67

Talking of stamping passports.

A UK nationals passport is not stamped on the way in or the way out of the UK. Neither is any EU nationals passport. there isnt much that can be gleaned from entry and exit stamps in passports (in reality)as these stamps are easily forged.

The indian politician who took another woman on his wifes passsport was doing it for money. He was paid a reasonable amount and had done it in the past too.

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Mickey S

I can't think of a single European country, whether in the EU or not, that stamps European passports any more. In the past year I've been to Croatia, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland - all outside the EU - and not one has stamped my passport. In fact, arriving in Switzerland (by train) there was no passport check whatsoever.

One of the benefits of not getting your passport stamped is that the passport fills up less quickly and you don't have to get a new one so often.

Dilliwala

One of the best unintended double-entendres ever!
Most people reading the above probably think u were in line at the bogs (toilets) instead of at Bogota Airport.

Aren't u talking about the 3-4 MPs who got caught last month? That was SOP for human-trafficking, I've seen it at close quarters professionally in the 90's, so I know. Obviously it has become difficult over the last decade to do it by non-vips (read regular traffickers), the airlines are a lot smarter at catching them now. But that MPs were doing it now came as a shock, altho it's quite 'logical' - they go thru the VIP channels, someone else does their immigration clearance and the illegal migrants (the "family members") don't get seen by immigration staff. Obviously there was a f-up somewhere! Only in India!

Nick-H

... I hadn't remembered the story properly, and guessed he was doing it for sex. Either way, it wouldn't surprise me!

Yes... the stamp means nothing. What is, maybe, useful to the authorities (some would say, an intrusion upon our liberty) is the record of arrival/departure.

No, not that story either. The same one as Matt's talking about I think.

The human-trafficking thing is a big-time organised crime thing, I think? and, unfortunately one doesn't have to look too far in such ventures for a politician .

Dilliwala

And THAT hits the nail on the head - alongwith less administrative work, as being the reason stamping PPs was abolished.
In the US they still stamp foreigners on entry, don't know about their own citizens.
Brings me back to my point about there not being anything sinister in stamping PPs even of own citizens - different countries do it for different reasons, "control" not necessarily being one of them.
Any Indian wanting to escape the govt's clutches/control only has to travel to Nepal, and can easily work his way anywhere in the world from there.
(Remember the Kanchi Shankaracharya's purported "escape" bid 2 years ago, Nick? If the cops hadn't anticipated him, he wud have left the country without controls of any kind.)

matt and I are talking about the same story.

Nick-H

Oh! I thought it was too separate stories.

OK. Wrong End of Stick Error.

nycank

Yes they DO stamp and swipe passports of US citizens on arrival. Countries in Europe used to check and stamp passports before the Schengen treaty. It was a royal pain to be woken up in the middle-of-night in an overnight train for passport/visa checks. Some of us have problems even now with pages filling up fast

nycank

I doubt Costa Rica ever had a visa on arrival for indians (even gc holders). I travelled to CR decades ago - They required a visa and a nominal fee. Jamaica/Bahama did not require a visa for GC holders. Argentina required a visa - but it gratis, so were a few former Warsaw pact countries.

Andorra is a principality - landlocked between France and Spain - Since it does not have an international airport - Their giving or waiving visas for indians is of little importance. One needs Visa of FR or ES. Switzerland required a visa even from the GC holders in the past decades. They might have relaxed this requirement in the light of increased tourism and location filming by Bollywood.

kiramakora

Guess you have not travelled for a while.

- Costa Rica visa regulations:
Clearly states you don't need a visa if you have ANY kind of U.S. visa. Nothing to do with your GC.
http://www.costarica-embassy.org/con...election.htm#I (click on India)

- Jamaica: No visa requirement http://www.congenjamaica-ny.org/visas.htm
I don't know why you brought up the case of the other countries. No one is saying otherwise.

Cheers.

machadinha

Random checks for papers and/or contraband naturally still occur, also by flying squads away from the border.

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Dilliwala

Very few Bollywood types have green cards, so they still need visas for CH. Green card holders have not required visas since a few years.

nvik16

lol and I thought Indians were not welcome anywhere .

federica

You don't need an extra visa for Switzerland anymore if you have a valid Schengen-visa (several EU countries) in your passport. Maxbe this fact lead to the confusion?

Correction: see post No.51 of this thread

kiramakora

I do not believe this is true. If you have a residency permit for a EU Schengen or US country, then you dont need a Swiss visa. However, just having a valid Schengen visa does not exempt you from getting a separate Swiss visa.