India e-visa and the 'simplified' immigration clearance procedure

Has anyone recently been on a cruise with port stops in India travelling on an e-visa?

The rules for cruisers visiting India on an e-visa were to be relaxed at the beginning of 2018, whereby the need for biometric collection was suspended for a period of three years in a bid to 'simplify the immigration clearance procedure and provide passengers with a customer friendly and hassle free logistics process when they embark on or disembark from their cruise at the Indian ports.'

PIB link for further reading

Previously, arriving via cruise ship on an e-visa caused very lengthy delays at the first India port whilst biometrics were taken.

For the benefit of future cruisers visiting India on an e-visa, can anyone advise how this has this worked in practice.

What was your experience with the e-visa under the new 'simplified procedure' at the first India port of call?

We were afraid to take a chance with delays caused by the e-visa system, so we obtained the regular visas by filling out the forms on the webpage of the agency that is authorized to process them. It was very tedious and time-consuming, but we hope it will have been worth it. Our first India port is Cochin on April 10.

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We were afraid to take a chance with delays caused by the e-visa system, so we obtained the regular visas by filling out the forms on the webpage of the agency that is authorized to process them. It was very tedious and time-consuming, but we hope it will have been worth it. Our first India port is Cochin on April 10.

 

 

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We’ll have to compare experiences on the day as I will be arriving at the same time, but with the e-visa!

Anne

We arrive in Cochin on April 15 with eVisas, was hoping for feedback on the new system before arrival.

Update - e-visa was a breeze.

Indian authorities did a brief face to face, no biometrics.

Copy of e-visa was stamped and acted as a 'landing card'.

Update - e-visa was a breeze.

 

Indian authorities did a brief face to face, no biometrics.

Copy of e-visa was stamped and acted as a 'landing card'.

Sorry, I forgot to post an update when I used mine but the same result, no issues at all. I actually had multiple ports (3 in total) in India and then flew out when the ship reached Mumbai but it all worked fine. Immigration at the port of Mumbai kept my ‘landing card’ that had been scanned and stamped in each of the sea ports, then when I got to the airport Immigration there just stamped my passport with an exit stamp beside the original entry stamp from the seaport in Cochin...

Anne..

Thanks to the cruisers using the eVisa who posted when they returned.

Anyone enter at Cochin, fly to Delhi (for Agra) and then return to the ship in Mumbai? We're leaning towards the eVisa. Thanks again.