Travelling to mystical land of the East – India? Do you know how to obtain an Indian Visa?

How excited you are to travel to a country, which was explicitly described in your Fifth grade history book – The land of Maharajas! You are eagerly planning your trip to this mystical land, but are you aware of the Visa requirements? Perhaps not! Read on and prepare yourself attaining a Passport to India.

All that you should know about travel permit to India 

It is not uncommon to notice that Visa requirements to any country keep changing with the introduction of new travel laws. And this holds true as you travel to India. Whether you are travelling for business or pleasure, we bring forth essential details that will enable you to get an Indian Visa smoothly.  

For tourist visa, applicants must now choose between 5-year and 10-year multiple-entry visa. Additionally, you must make a gap of 2 months between your visits to India. However, you must seek special permission if you must re-enter India before the outlined time frame.    

It is important to state your honest purpose for travelling to the Indian shores. Why? Since tourist visa is issued solely for tourism, vacations and family visits, any other intent or purpose will be held redundant under this category of visa. Hence, if you are likely to visit the country for business activities, academic research and employment opportunities browse through the 10 categories of available Indian Visa to select your optimal choice.

For applicants aspiring business visa to India can now choose between 1-year and 5-year multiple-entry visa. Further, acquiring the 5-year visa has become a challenging task; applicants must now justify their request by providing an itinerary of their upcoming travel dates and planned business activities to the Indian consulate. The documents considered as proof of your business travel intent includes Business Cover Letter and the Letter of Invitation that must reflect your travel dates.  

Whether you wish to obtain tourist visa or business visa, your passport should contain two blank visa pages, preferably back to back.

Types of Visa for travelling to India:

Travel permit to India is segregated under 10 categories. These include Tourist Visa, Business Visa, X (Entry) Visa, Student Visa, Employment Visa, Transit Visa, Medical Visa, Research Visa, Journalist Visa and Conference Visa. We have discussed the first two earlier, now we shall concentrate on the remaining ones.

X (Entry) Visa is issued to travelers with unique circumstances like foreigner of Indian origin and spouse and children of a foreigner of Indian origin who may visit India for professional or personal reasons.

Transit Visa can be enjoyed by travelers who are staying in India for less than 72 hours. To obtain it they must furnish their confirmed tickets for forward journey.

Student, Research and Medical Visas are acquired by people who intend to attend a study course, to obtain results for their scholarly work or seeking medical treatments in India.     

Business delegates can obtain conference visa, while individual’s seeking jobs in India must apply for employment Visa.