India visa

[Cruisegizmo]

Hi everyone

 

we are Gerry and Eileen from the uk going on this India trip in January. 

 

Can anyone help as it's difficult to know what visa to get.  We are from the uk and agents are just saying look on India visa site but that is not at all clear for cruisers. 

 

there is a 30 day e visa which allows 2 entries which should in theory be ok as you would enter in one port i.e. Goa then exit Mumbai.  As you are still in Indian waters from one port to the other two then it should just be a domestic trip between ports shouldn't it?

 

A one year visa seems a bit of an overkill.

 

anyone got any ideas.

 

thanks in advance for any help.

[yorky1]

Hi

We visited 3 ports in India  in Jan 2019 on a Celebrity cruise.    An evisa was sufficient for the ship stopping at Mumbai with an over night stay,  Goa and Cochin and  We joined the roll call for our cruise and got loads of useful info.   You will probably find lots of information on there.

 

We had the required size photos taken at our local Max Speilman shop.  They provided ephotos on a memory stick which you need to the application as well as hard copies.  They loaded up to the evisa site without a problem.  

It took a while to complete each application but evisas were approved and the document we needed to print off arrived within a couple of hours

 

[sddsddean]

As yorky says, its a bit of a nightmare, but the tourist eVisa is sufficient. From memory it cost about £103 each (I think the charge was in US dollars).

 A bit of info for you. We embarked at Abu Dhabi. At check in they wanted 2 copies of the India visa, one copy of the Sri Lanka visa (free transit eVisa available online) and 1 copy of your passport (take 2 copies [one for you to keep] as they take your passport off you). Lots of people had packed thier visas etc in their luggage, so make sure you keep all documents with you. The night before your first day in India, a 'landing card' for each person will be delivered to your room. DO NOT LOSE IT!!! They are effectively impossible to replace. This has to be stamped at every Indian port, so be prepared to queue (best Cochin 30 seconds, worst Goa 25 mins!). The card will be checked at least 2 times (and probably more) going in and out of the port, so don't put it away as soon as its first checked.

 

Have fun!

 

Simon

Edited November 13, 2019 by sddsddean

[sddsddean]

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[Cruisegizmo]

Thank you both for your very useful replies.

 

I have now obtained the e visa - decided to take the 1 year one to be safe and also it was not much more than the 30 day one.  The cost was £33 each  converted from US$ so I think they must have reduced costs as the travel agent said it would be around £100 as well.

 

We will definately take extra copies of things, really good advice.   We took the photos with our phone and then uploaded as you are able to do a final crop once this has been done.  

 

Again many thanks for taking the time to reply, it is much appreciated.

[tring]

On 11/14/2019 at 11:43 AM, Cruisegizmo said:

Thank you both for your very useful replies.

 

I have now obtained the e visa - decided to take the 1 year one to be safe and also it was not much more than the 30 day one.  The cost was £33 each  converted from US$ so I think they must have reduced costs as the travel agent said it would be around £100 as well.

 

We will definately take extra copies of things, really good advice.   We took the photos with our phone and then uploaded as you are able to do a final crop once this has been done.  

 

Again many thanks for taking the time to reply, it is much appreciated.

 

Yes length of time e visas are available for and their cost has been changed in the last few months, with much lower prices applied.  We went for the 5 year ones for US$80 per person and they did not take long to come through, albeit a bit fiddly getting the necessary details together for the applications.  Well worth while in our opinion in case we do want to go back as it will mean we do not have to bother with repeating the applications.  People who went earlier this year, will have used the old system/prices, so their experiences will be out of date and incorrect.

 

Whether you can use an evisa or not is dependent upon which port you are visiting first, so I hope you checked it was OK for your itinerary and am mentioning this for anyone else looking at this thread.  Cochin and Mumbai and most other well visited ports, are fine as a first visit ports as you can collect your full visa there, but places like Porbandar and The Andaman Islands need a full visa as they are not set up to process ETA's.  I cannot remember the ports were ETA's are able to be processed, but hopefully you did look into that.  Apparently other entry ports/airports are being brought in as they get set up with the technology, so the list needs to be checked by individuals, though cruise companies should be able to advise (if they are up to date themselves).

 

Enjoy your cruise - we will be visiting four Indian Ports in February.

Edited November 15, 2019 by tring