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india vlag

Frequently asked questions
India visa

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General questions

What is an Indian visa?

If you want to travel to India for a holiday, business or medical treatment, you must have a visa. This gives you access to enter the country. This visa is issued by the Indian government and is issued both digitally and regularly (placed inside the physical passport).

What types of visa are available for India?

India has various types of visas. For example, a digital visa is available, which you can apply for online here. However, the following conditions apply:
• You can only apply for an e-visa twice a year
• Your arrival must not be by land
• The visa is only valid at the following airports: Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bagdogra, Bengaluru, Calicut, Chennai, Chandigarh, Cochin, Coimbatore, Delhi, Gaya, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mengalore, Mumbai, Nagpur , Pune, Tiruchirapalli, Trivandrum, Veranasi and Vishakhapatnam. In addition, the e-visas are only valid for 120 days from the time of issue, the stay of which may not exceed 60 days. An e-visa is a double entry visa, but both entries must take place within 60 days of entry.
A regular visa will be in your passport. This visa is valid for both tourists and business people and is valid for 5 years. You can travel to India several times within this period.
• It is possible to apply for a 1 year visa, for this you must state the reason why the visa should only be 1 year, instead of 5 years. Since 2020 it is also possible to apply for an e-visa with a validity of 1 year, this applies to business and tourist travelers.
• Travelers between 12 and 70 years old are required to submit biometric data to the embassy in The Hague. You must therefore also come by appointment. Traveldocs will of course take care of this for you and will also guide you through this process after supplying all the necessary documents for obtaining a regular visa of 5 years. 1-year visa applicants do not have to provide biometric data, unless the embassy specifically requests this.

Do I have to apply for a visa?

Yes, Travelers who do not have Indian Nationality and wish to travel to India must apply for a visa before departure, including children / babies.

If you have a transit in India, please contact us for a transit visa. Traveldocs can assist you with the application.

Do children need to have their own visa?

Yes. Everyone traveling, regardless of age, must have their own visa. For a trip to India you have to take into account extra rules. It is no longer allowed for children to be included in their passport with their parents. In addition, children aged 12 years and older must also provide biometric data.

How long am I allowed to stay in India?

Business and tourism e-visas for India are valid for one year from the date of issue.
If you apply for the e-tourist visa to go on holiday, you can stay in India for a maximum of 90 consecutive days.
If you apply for a business e-visa, you can stay in Indonesia for up to 180 days consecutively.
In both cases you are allowed to enter India several times.
If you apply for a medical e-visa, it is valid for 60 days from the first entry into India and entitles you to a maximum of 3 entries
Do you want to stay longer in India, do you want a visa of 5 years or are you a traveler who wants to go to study, volunteer or join an Indian organization? Then you have to apply for a regular / physical visa.
More about this topic can be found on the page about the validity period of the India visa.

Am I allowed to live and/or study on my visa?

This is not allowed with the online-requested e-visa, in this case you must apply for a physical visa from us, please contact us for questions regarding a physical visa.

I want to work in India. Which visa do I need?

If you are going to work in India as part of a business trip, the business e-visa for India is sufficient. If you want to join an Indian organization you must apply for a physical visa.

How much does a visa for India cost?

The costs for the e-visa for India for the tourist visa valid for 30 days are € 53.99
For the tourist e-visa valid for 1 year € 68.38
For the business e-visa valid for 1 year € 91.95 and for the business multiple-entry visa.
The costs for the physical visa vary per visa and processing time. Check this page for the rates and the structure of the total price of the visa type you want.
This includes processing costs, consular costs, transaction costs (with iDeal / bancontact payment) and VAT. If you want to have data and / or documents collected or delivered at home, you pay additional shipping costs. You can also use an urgent procedure where a surcharge will also be charged. The amount of these surcharges depends on the desired delivery time and visa type. Information about the surcharges and rates can be found on the page of the visa India.

Why are the costs higher for a regular visa?

The reason that the costs for a regular visa are relatively high compared to an e-visa is because this not only involves more work, but also more time. Where an electronic visa can be arranged on the computer within a few minutes, the embassy now has to cover the costs of conducting an interview and administering biometric data. On the other hand, you can travel carefree to India for 5 years. If you want to receive advice on which visa suits best in your situation, please contact us.

Application related questions

My application has been processed, but I still haven't revceived an email.

If, after paying your visa, you have not received an email from us within an hour, first check the junk mail folder (spam box). Didn’t receive an email there either? Please contact us by phone or e-mail via the contact page.

How long does it take to process my visa application?

The costs for the visa vary per visa and processing time. Normally, a normal application for regular visas takes about 5 working days from the moment of submission (this is only possible after submitting any biometric data). An electronic visa is usually ready in 4 working days.
However, the embassy reserves the right at all times to take longer to assess your application than the stated average processing time for this.

Other conditions of the visa for India can be viewed here.

How does the application process work?

Are you traveling on an e-visa? Then you must complete the form on our website and email it to us, along with a clear scan of your passport and a passport photo. Business travelers also have to upload a clear photograph or scan of their business card. We will be notified within 72 hours after submitting. Has your application been approved? Then you can travel to India with the Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA). Has your application been refused? Then you can try to apply for a regular visa.
Are you traveling with a regular visa? Then you must complete the online form and send it to us together with your passport and passport photo (50x50mm) by registered mail. We also need additional signed documents from you. You can find this on our website. Once everything has been received in good order, the following applies:
• We will prepare a consular form for you on the basis of the form you have completed. You will receive this from us by email and you must send it signed to us again.
• Once we have received the consular form signed by us, we will submit your application to the Visa Application Center in The Hague.
• From the first working day after submitting, it is possible for you to visit the embassy by appointment. We plan the time and date for you.
• During this appointment you will hand in your fingerprints and an iris scan. It is also possible that you have to answer a number of questions about your trip.
• The processing time of 5 working days starts from the next working day after your appointment. After 5 working days we will receive your passport with the visa for India

How long in advance can I apply for an Indian visa?

The visa application for Indonesia is possible between 90 days and about a week before departure, depending on the visa type you have chosen. To ensure that the visa is issued on time, we recommend that you submit the application a few weeks before departure. You can find more information about this on the delivery times page.
Note: A maximum of 1 valid visa for India can be present in your passport, if you have a current visa in your passport, the validity of this old visa expires.
Other conditions of the visa for India can be viewed here.

Is there an urgent procedure available?

Yes, the physical visa for India can also be applied for urgently. The usual delivery time for both the business and tourist visa is 6 working days, if you make an urgent request, this is 3 working days. There is a surcharge of € 17.50 per person for this urgent procedure.

How do I send my passport and documents?

To apply for a India physical visa you need to send your passport and certain documents, you do not have to send us any documents physically if you are applying for an e-visa for India.
There are a number of delivery methods, namely; delivery at our office in Hoofddorp, sending it yourself (by registered mail or by courier), having it picked up by us (the next day or, in case of emergency, the same day).
Sometimes our pick-up service can be used the same day. The possibility and costs depend on the pick-up location, the time and the crowds at our courier service. The costs for the next day’s pick-up also depend on the pick-up location.
You can contact us by phone for the possibilities of our collection service.

Can I renew an existing visa?

No, it is not possible to renew a visa. Please also note that any new visa application for India will immediately invalidate any old visa for India. So only submit a new visa application when you no longer want to use any previously issued visas.

Required documents

What documents must be provided in order to obtain an Indian visa?

To submit your application for an e-visa you need a passport photo scan and a passport scan and a clear scan of the business card (only for business trips) of the traveler (s) for which you are applying for a visa. Furthermore, also needs the residence address of the first night in India.
Which data and documents you have to supply for applying for the regular / physical visa depends on your destination (tourist or business), the number of entries required in India and the desired period of validity of the visa. After submitting the online visa application for India, you will receive a personal email from us with instructions on how to provide the necessary documents for your situation.
You can also check which documents these will be on this page.

Which conditions apply to my passport?

The passport must be valid for at least six months after each entry and must contain at least 2 blank pages.
Also, when applying for a regular / physical visa, the passport must be free of covers, please remove them before sending them to us.

Does my passport state the letter O or the number 0?

Document numbers in the Netherlands never contain the letter “O”, but they can contain the number “0”. Even though it seems that there is a letter O in your passport, it will be the number 0. It is also important to know that document numbers in the Netherlands are 9 characters long.
Belgian document numbers may include the letter (s) “O” and / or the number “0”. Belgian document numbers are 8 characters long and always start with 2 letters followed by 6 numbers.

Which conditions apply to the photographs?

For the e-visa, the scan must be sharp and legible, the information page must be fully displayed.
The passport photo / scan for both e-visa and physical visa must be of high quality and in color with a white background. Headwear is only allowed in the passport photo if this is for religious reasons: The visibility of the entire face is then a requirement.

For the physical visa, the passport photo must be hard copy (on paper and not digital), taken in the last 3 months in the format 50x50mm. to be delivered. PLEASE NOTE! This differs from the standard format of the passport photo. You should specifically ask for a passport photo for the India visa from the photographer!
The passport photo must be loose (so not attached to the application form in any way) and free of any glue / staple remnants.

2 photographs must be provided per each visa application!

Canceling and changing existing applications

If my visa application is rejected, will I get my money back?

No. We must pay in advance for both an e-visa and a regular visa. If the GOI decides that you cannot enter the country for any reason, we will not be able to recover these costs.

I made a mistake on my application and/or documents. Can I correct this?

In this case, please contact us as soon as possible to indicate what is not in order. Whether your visa application can still be corrected depends on the nature of the error and the status of your application. If we have not delivered your application to the embassy yet, it is possible to make changes. If your applicaiton is already in the hands of the embassy, there is nothing we can do. You must obtain a new visa with the proper information and cancel the existing one.

Is it possible to cancel my application?

Cancellation is only possible before payment is completed. As soon as we have received the payment of your e-visa application, we will process it immediately and refund of your payment is no longer possible from that moment. For regular visa it is possible to cancel before we submit your application to the embassy. If you wish to cancel a regular visa application and you still haven’t deliverd any of the required documents to us yet, please contact us.
If you made a mistake with the application, you can submit a new application. Costs for this new application are entirely at your own expense.

Additional questions

Is it possible to get help with my application?

Always try to find your question on this page first, in almost all cases you will find the answer to your question about your visa application here.
In the unlikely event that you find no or insufficient answer to your question, we will of course be happy to help you, click here to contact us.

How do you handle my personal data?

We will only use your data to process your visa application. In doing so, we respect the privacy of every user of our site and will ensure that all personal information you provide to us will be treated confidentially. We strongly inform you that your data will not be sold or used for any other commercial purposes.
If you have any further questions about your privacy, please view our privacy policy or contact us.

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