Jump to content

Indian visas


HAWSER32
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hi everyone,

Any knowledgeable thoughts on Indian visas out there. Recently started looking and the process is appearing to be terrifyingly daunting (and very costly). Cant even get on the ship without one.

Spoken to the Indian Embassy and an outsourcing visa company and had a response to an email sent to the Indian gov site but conflicting answers would'nt even cover the response achieved I'm starting to think that I've booked and mostly paid for the wrong cruise. Any info would be welcome.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We needed a visa for a land hol a few years back and had a cruise planned, but the company went bust in January. The system works, but is not cheap and you do need to allow enough time to get it - so booking a cruise or hol to India last minute does not work. I assume you are likely to be from the UK, like most Fred passengers. Apply through the official Indian government route (which may be out sourced now) as the other agencies will just charge you more. There were some places you can drop into with your application. We were able to do our application on line, then print it out and take it to a base in Manchester (made appt - otherwise a very long wait), where it was checked and sent off. This meant we did not risk having it sent back because of a problem. The system may have changed though, so you need to check.

 

All the details are on line, so I think your mistake was to ring and send emails to ask about it as you may not have spoken to people who deal with that. Just search for the relevant site(s) on the net and be prepared to read your way though the requirements.

 

I think Fred should be able to advise, but be aware that cruise companies sometimes offer to do the visa for you (for a price of course and you would still need to give them the relevant details anyway). Not sure they can do one for India though - I am thinking about another cruise line and another country.

 

You will find a lengthy thread(s) on the 'Ports of Call' section of these boards about Indian visas - including many moans from people who did not bother to do their homework about what to do! You should get an idea of the up to date situation form there, but do not rely on info there without checking yourself and rules can change of coiurse, so if you are not due to go yet will still need to check it is the same when you need your visa. Also be aware on the port of call section that people are form all different parts of the world, and the method/cost is likely different for all of them.

 

Visa cost is just another part of a holiday. We are on Boudicca to Mauritius in Oct/Nov and will need a few visas, the cost of which adds up. Ours can all be arranged by the ship when we are on Board though and the charge will just appear on our account, so easy from that point of view.

 

Ports of call section can be found at the bottom of the main page of these boards - just click on 'Asia'. I have just realised you are new to Cruise Critic, welcome. It maty take a bit of time to find your way round at first, but it is a great way to exchange info about all things cruising. This section is for questions specific to Fred, so you will not get a lot of people whi have cruised to India recently. Any probs finding your way around the boards, just ask and I will try to help :).

Edited by tring
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We've just gone through the process for a Celebrity cruise at the end of this year.

 

In this country {UK} vfsglobal handles the visa process on behalf of the Indian Government.

 

Use this website

http://www.vfsglobal.com/india/uk/

to apply for your visa, which should be an annual multi trip one [the price is the same irrespective of which type you get]. e-visas are not suitable for a cruise.

 

The current cost is just under £150 each, taking into account special photographs, envelopes for returning passports etc. [in fact it cost so much that we've booked an extra Azamara cruise next April so that we can get more value out of the £300 we've spent on the visas].:)

 

If you look at the roll call for the 7 December 2017 sailing of the Celebrity Constellation this subject has been dealt with in great detail [and a lot of angst!] and should help you through the process.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My husbandand I found India a vibrant and fascinating country and we have visited itseveral times both on cruises and on land tours. We know that it is a longdrawn out and expensive task to get an Indian visa but, for us, well worth thehassle.

 

We needed our lastvisa in May of this year for a cruise on Celebrity Constellation that visitedCochin, New Mangalore, Goa and Mumbai and below is a copy of the notes that Imade for future reference.

 

· It is important to go to the official Indian Governmentweb site http://www.vfsglobal.com/India/UK/Tourist.htmland follow the instructions for filling in the application form and making anappointment for your interview.

 

· I would suggest typing up all the answers to thequestions on a word document because the form takes a while to fill in and I foundthat it can ‘time-out’ if you get distracted.

 

This information isfrom the web site

 

Documents Required

 

Tourist Visa:

 


  • Passport valid for a minimum of 180 days with at least two blank pages.
  • Correct visa fee.
  • Two recent 50 mm * 50 mm size photographs. Please check the Photo Specification.
  • Duly filled onlineApplication form and Declaration with signatures.(Printed and duly signed)

Indian immigration.

 

· We had to get fullIndian visas as an e-visa is only valid from certain airports and doesn't covermultiple entries.

 

· UK residents need tohave a 'face to face' interview at their most convenient Visaoffice.....Birmingham in our case.

 

· Visa photographs are a different size than passport photos.

 

· Our passports werekept at the visa office to have the visa stamp attached and then posted back tous. That took 5 days. The total cost including postage was £120pp!

 

· When we boarded the ship,we had 3 Indian immigration cards to sign and these were kept, along with ourpassports, by the ship's authorities.

 

· On the sea day beforeour first Indian port all passengers had to attend the Indianimmigration vetting. Passengers were given a time to go to the RendezvousLounge (ours was 13.00-13.15) where we were given our passports, an'immigration card' plus a 'landing card' which already had our picture onit.......this was a copy of our security picture that was taken on the firstday - very clever. Once we had signed both cards we went into the lounge wherethere was a very short queue which we joined. We were called forward to haveour passports and visas checked by an Indian immigration officer who thenstamped our landing card and gave it back to us. He kept our passports andimmigration cards which were also stamped and then these were kept by the ship.

 

The whole process was quick andefficient.....probably 5 minutes in total.

 

· On each port day passengers could not disembark and re-embark withoutshowing their official landing card, acopy of their passport and their sea pass.

 

· Once back on board,that day's landing card had to be surrendered.

 

· Indian immigrationofficials were on board for the whole journey to Indian ports and, during thenight, they processed the landing cards for the following day's port. Thesewere then posted under cabin doors during the night. It was a very efficientservice.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

We went to India with NCL and there was fun!!!

There were 171 people on the cruise with either no or the wrong visa. Do NOT get the eVisa as it is for air arrival only.

Make sure you get a MULTIPLE entry visa. They gave us a DOUBLE entry visa and we had to quickly get it changed 5 days before departure from New Zealand. We have an interesting addition in our passport and a letter confirming the change. If the Visa had been cancelled and a new one inserted we would have had trouble with the US authorities, "have you ever had a visa refused or cancelled!!"

 

Caveat Emptor.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...