January 13, 2012

India : Visa Application

OK.. forcing myself to write about India. If I don't do it now.. maybe I'll finish writing about it one year later like my other trips. -_-

First thing first, you need a visa to enter India.

You know what? A few days before my trip, I read Dr. Halina's tweet that she will be going to India with her husband, Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor (the astronaut). Done packing and all excited, on the day of her departure, he realized that he forgot to apply the visa for them! O_o So, the trip had to be cancelled. 
Moral of the story: Please check whether or not you need a visa before going to any countries.

Anyway, all India visa applications need to be submitted with Online Visa application form. Go here and click the online application link. Fill up the form. After that, print out the form and attach 2 visa photos. Indian visa photo is similar to USA and Japan visa photos, with white background and measuring 2"x2". Also, you can attach any supporting documents if necessary. Not forgetting, your passport, of course!

You can apply either for single or multiple entries. The fees are the same though, so just apply for multiple entries in case you wanna repeat the trip. :D For the fees, I paid RM168 last December 2011. But note that for normal tourist visa, they will only issue the visa for a maximum of 6 months. And from one visit to the next, you need to have a gap of 2 months between both visits.

After everything is ready, you can submit the application to India Visa Centre office at Lebuh Pasar Besar, KL. From what I read on High Commission of India's website, they don't insist you to go there yourselves so you must apply the visa at India Visa Centre, an outsource visa application centre by the High Commission of India.

I was quite busy before my trip so the easy way was to ask my office's travel agent to submit and collected it for me. Hehehe..

The visa will be ready within 3 days.


You can refer to India Visa Centre website here and the High Commission of India website here.

Happy applying and enjoy your trip! :D

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