Indian visa
 

I have booked a cruise which has three Indian ports of call. Mumbai, Mormugao (Goa) and Cochin.

We are regular cruisers and have got used to arriving at places and disembarking on a 'ships visa' and not individual ones.

Having looked on line gettting a visa for India does not seem a simple thing to do.

Only the Indians could have a system that only allows an e visa if you enter by air and by three designated ports one of which is NOT Mumbai!

I can't pin down if we need a multi entry visa or not. Also the pricing system seems quite opaque.

Will I need to visit Indian Embassy in London?

I'm sure there are many out there who have faced this and can offer some advice.

Thanks in advance.

It seems the Indian government may not be of much help with visas if this article is anything to go by.
Poynton High School charity trip sent home from India - BBC News

I would have thought that the cruise line would have the answer. After all, they will want to sell you expensive day trips.

The fishing nets at Cochin are worth a visit btw.

i would have thought India would have paid both for your visa and for you to enter. If not, I would find somewhere else to cruise.

In my understanding, the Indian visitors visa is a simple way to get hard currency and give employment. It5 is low cost and everyone gets one - but it keeps people busy and is cheap enough not to put people off. Very sensible.

If Mrs. May doesn't sort out Brexit this may become the norm ;)

india is a weird place

One of their biggest industries is offshore back office and callc entre functions. they spend alot of time and money promoting this.

On the other hand these functions need connection by subsea fibre optics to the rest of the world . If one of these cable fails the Indian Government need a visa for all the repair ships crew and that cannot be done on the high seas and like this trip is complicated so it typically takes 6 weeks just to get the ship 'into India' ie their waters . So one hand promotes something the other hand makes it very difficult to provide the tools for it. bit of a shambles all round still in my experience

A bit of a shambles describes the country in general I think.

This might help.

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-ad...y-requirements

About 5 years ago a friend of mine went to the Birmingham office to obtain a visa. It would involve queing up for ages then coming back a few hours later to collect your passport. I believe the cost is around £100. But as others have stated check with your travel agency who organised the trip. Now I believe it's an electronic process.

Crewmeal: what I have discovered is that you can get an e visa for entry at around 24 Indian airports.

However it only is valid for three sea ports and,believe it or not, Mumbai, the biggest port, is not one of them!

I am fortunate that my cruise is not until December so have a good amount of time to battle Indian bureaucracy.

As most of us know, Indian customs can be very bureaucratic.
In exchange for machining a part for one of our aircraft, it was agreed that some military spares would be delivered direct to the INAA instead of passing through Bombay which, the unit Commander said would incur an extended delay.

Can't help feeling that a discreetly offered dash to the right person may have eased things.

Similar challenges to enter St Pete Russia on a Baltic cruise.

We just pre-booked our port visit tours through locals saving mucho $$$ and the local tour company took care of our entrances and exits at the port.

Typically a local tour company at the port who desires your land tour business will have the solutions worked out for you.

google your ports of call for tours and have a safe trip with no worries

Check with the cruise company directly and get their response in writing. If you need a visa, I don't think you can apply at the Indian High Commission, everything now goes through visa agencies.

Looks like it's quite complicated to get a visa these days.

Indian Consulates Birmingham Visa services High Commission of India, London visa India Visa Application Centre :: Consulate General of India in Birmingham

I bet it is easier to get into North Korea!

Likely no more difficult than for an Indian national to get a visa to visit the Excited Kingdom. India doesn't require visas from nationals of countries that don't require Indians to have them. And their fees are reciprocal.

What I'm finding difficult is why the Indian Government is making it difficult for thousands of people to enter their country and spend money!

2000+ people wanting to take tours, shop, use taxi's eat and drink etc. They know these people are going to get back on the ship and move on they are not likely to be trying to stay.

Also if they make it too difficult the cruise lines will drop them as a destination and find somewhere more trouble free. On my cruise they have already dropped Mangalore from the itinerary as it proved to difficult for them to handle the influx of passengers.

A lot of it is about controlling visits from certain certain ethnic groups, which is why there are questions on the form about where your grandparents were born. I think there is even a statement somewhere on the form that if there is evidence of any Pakistani background in your family you can expect the application to take a *lot* longer to process.

Don't forget the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

But so far we don't actually know if there is a problem other than poor communication from the cruise company.

Also read their terms and conditions, the answer might be there.

https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/index.html