Category Archives: Visa

Effective December 17, VFS Global in India and Nepal will no longer accept Schengen visa applications on behalf of the Embassy of Spain or Consulate General of Mumbai in India. Applicants who have confirmed appointments with VFS Global up till December 16, 2016 shall continue to have their applications processed at the VFS Global office in and Nepal. The VFS Global website stated, “For all other queries from 17 December 2016 onwards, please get in touch directly with the Spain Consulate General OR Embassy of Spain in your city. For queries regarding visa applications submitted on/before 16 December 2016, please note, our website, online appointment system, call center line and helpdesk email support will be operational until December 26, 2016. VFS Global will continue to process Schengen visa applications on behalf of the other European member states served by VFS Global.”

India’s e-visa will now have three components — e-tourist visa, e-medical visa, e-buisness visa. Talking about the various changes in e-visa, Vinod Zutshi, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Govt of India, says, “For the first time in this country, medical visa is going the electronic way and so is the case with business visa. This has been one of the biggest landmark decisions, and it’s going to catapult Indian tourism into a new orbit. The best thing is that the initial period of application, which used to be 30 days, has been extended to 120 days, which is logical, especially for foreigners who plan their travel much in advance.” Talking about the extension of eTV, Zutshi says, “The validity of eTV was just 30 days and it’s been increased to 60 days now. Also, when tourists come to India, they would like to visit other countries of Southeast Asia and come back. We have made e-tourist visa and e-business visa double entry. For e-medical visa, the government has provided triple entry, which is a redeeming feature. Film visa has also been streamlined and rationalised, which has come at the right time and would encourage filming in India.”

The Tourism Authority of Thailand New Delhi has confirmed the temporary waiver of visa fees for Indian tourists travelling to the Kingdom from Dec 1, 2016, to Feb 28, 2017. The Thai cabinet has also decided to halve the visa-on-arrival fees from 2000 baht to 1000 baht. Along with India, the move applies to 18 other countries including Andorra, Bulgaria, Bhutan, China, Cyprus, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Romania, San Mario, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The three-month tourism promotion measure is aimed at boosting the number of visitors by 350,000 and generating an income of 28 billion baht.

The Royal Thai Embassy New Delhi confirmed the temporary non-issue of visa services from November 21 to 25, according to a spokesperson from the embassy. No reason has so far been stated for the hold in services during the mentioned period. Those who require visas during this period may obtain visa-on-arrival or from Thai Consulates in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.

Amidst discussions about VFS Global in India and Nepal to discontinue the processing of Schengen visa applications from October 11, on behalf of Embassy of Spain or Consulate General of Mumbai in India, VFS Global has issued a statement saying, ”At the request of the Government of Spain, VFS Global in India and Nepal will continue to provide Spain visa services until further notice.” VFS Global has served as the visa service provider for the Government of Spain since 2007, in 49 countries, globally.

Indians planning their next vacation in Malaysia will have to pay a total of Rs. 5,600 per person starting Sept 15, 2016. The earlier fee was Rs. 3,500. The Malaysia High Commission has outsourced its visa processing to One Stop Centre Malaysia Visa (OSC) with effect from Sept 15, 2016.  The new visa-processing partner has come with a slight revision in fee. Applicants will now have to bear a total cost of Rs 5,600 (Visa fees: Rs 1000 and Processing fees: Rs 4,600). The processing time of the applications will be 5 working days for all categories. All other mandatory requirements including the three-month bank statement and a valid return ticket remain unchanged. This manual application for Malaysian visa is recommended for travellers seeking multiple entry to Malaysia. The Malaysian Government also recently introduced the Electronic Travel Authorization Visa (e-visa) for a short visit to Malaysia. At this point in time, the e-visa facility is available to Indians residing in India only and is valid for a single journey stay of maximum 30 days in Malaysia for tourism purposes. The e-visa fees would approx up to Rs 2700 (Rs 1050 for visa fees and USD 25 as processing fee) and has a turn round time of about 48 hours.

UAE immigration will remain closed from Sept 9, 2016, till Sept 13, 2016, on the account of Eid Al Adha holidays. Travellers applying for UAE visa during this period must apply in advance to avoid any delays due to the holidays. Also, with immediate effect, Embassy of the Republic of Chile in Delhi will be working from Monday till Thursday. Friday will be non-working day. Applicants applying for a Short Term visa to South Africa from Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Goa and Bangalore must provide the Host’s ID copy, invitation letter, Residential Proof and a copy of the Residential Status of the host duly attested by a Commissioner of Oaths in South Africa. For applicants applying from Delhi, Gurgaon, Kolkata and Jaipur, above documents without attestation are acceptable.

VFS Global has opened a Turkey Visa Application Centre in Mumbai on July 1. It was inaugurated by Erdal Sabri Ergen, Turkish Consul General in Mumbai.  He was accompanied by other dignitaries from the Turkish Consulate, and members of VFS Global staff. The new facility is located at Urmi Axis Building, Mahalaxmi. This inauguration comes close on the heels of the contract signing between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and VFS Global in March 2016, to roll out centres in 18 cities across India, the Maldives and Nepal, namely Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Goa, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Jalandhar, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, Pune, Puducherry and Thiruvananthapuram in India, and Malé (the Maldives) and Kathmandu (Nepal).

India may soon roll out a long-term multiple-entry comprehensive visa by merging tourist, business, medical and conference visas into one to attract more visitors and boost trade. Tourists, businessmen or people coming for treatment or to attend conferences or even for film shoots can be covered under the proposed new category, which was first mooted by the commerce ministry following a suggestion by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to boost services trade. The long-term, multiple-entry visa is likely to be given up to 10 years but under this category the visitor will not be allowed to work or stay permanently, a government official, who is part of the deliberations, said. As per the proposal, if a foreigner is granted long-term, multiple-entry non-working or non-permanent stay visa and his or her stay is restricted to 60 days on a visit, the government may waive the visa fee as well. However, the visitors have to give biometric details and fulfill certain security obligations, the official said. The home ministry is working on the proposal and, hopefully, it will be implemented soon, the official said. The plan is part of the commerce ministry’s initiatives to boost India’s services trade. Source: PTI

Tunisia is offering Visa on Arrival for Indians who are travelling in a group of at least 20 people, it was revealed at a small interactive session on Tunisia by Embassy of Tunisia and BTC Travel Group. Addressing a gathering of travel agents and media, Tarek Azouz, Ambassador, Tunisia to India, said, “We have introduced visa on arrival facility for groups. If a travel agent has a group of 20 people, they can send prior information to the embassy and they can get visa at the immigration counter.” Tushar Jain, Group Managing Director, BTC Group, said that Tunisia is trying to attract mice groups from India. “Travel agents can easily apply visa for a group of minimum 20 people. They just need to produce their hotel voucher at the immigration counter and get visa on arrival.”