I recently found out that since February 2015, it is a requirement for those travelling to India from the UK to get the Visa personally as you have to be finger printed. This is not a big problem for me as I work in London, but may cause a problem for people not living close to Indian Embassies or Missions. The most annoying thing is that the Indian Government is allowing the citizens of quite a few countries to get an e-Visa or Visa on arrival. Not sure why UK is excluded especially when you see that places like Guatemala and Russia are included! I am wondering if this will mean that numbers travelling to India on holiday will decline. I know some people cancelled Russian holidays because of the same reason. Unfortunately when the Governments bring such silly rules, they do not realise what effect it will have on the tourism industry.

Jaya

The new processes for obtaining an Indian visa have caused a storm throughout the travel industry. The Indian High commission has had several meetings with the travel industry & have listened to the comments that have been raised.

The good news is they have now decided not to proceed with the Biometric data collection & also you do not need to attend in person. So someone could lodge your application on your behalf. However before doing so an appointment must be made on line.

There is a lot of change happening and we are very lucky to have an in-house consular services team who keep on top of all the visa application processes to the countries that we visit and would like to visit.

Kindest regards,

Julia

Is there any sign of Russia lifting its new finger-printing regulations as well?

Best wishes,

Bob

I obtained my Indian visa without any problems. I completed on line application form and made an appointment to deliver it to visa application centre in Glasgow. Passport with appropriate visa was returned to me by secure courier one week later. Saved £45 doing it myself!

Lesley

Jaya

There are rumours that this could be the case in the future.

Julia

Hi Julia,

Is there any sign of Russia lifting its new finger-printing regulations as well?

Best wishes,

Bob

Hi Bob,

I'm not aware of any changes at the moment.

Kindest regards,

Julia

I get the impression the Indian goverment would prefer us not to go there and contribute to their tourist economy, either that or they are just playing tit for tat for our goverments clampdown on false student visas.

Never mind, the whole rigmarole is over now visa obtained and I look forward to going and meeting the real Indian people not the jobsworths who just want to make life difficult.

Regards

Alan

Despite all the problems in obtaining the Indian Visa, I am sure you are going to enjoy your trip to India. Sometimes Government Officials do not realise the problems they create by not making getting a Visa simpler and easier and that by making the process hard, lots of people would think twice about visiting their country since there are lots of other fascinating places to visit. If they rely on tourism then their economy would suffer. Hopefully Julia is correct in that UK will be included in the list of all the other countries whereby you can either get a e-Visa or Visa on arrival. I am due to visit Kerala in November so hope this will happen before then, if not I will just apply online and get an appointment to deliver the completed form etc to the Indian High Commission in London.

Gran, I work in London so thank God I will not have to use an Agency as I can do this myself.

Jaya