Application to Visit India is a Nightmare

[Antlor]

 

If you are planning to visit India to go to Eugenix or Darling Buds or wherever in India, prepare for the logistics hassle.

 

I don't know about you but filling out the tourist e-visa takes several hours. The form requires you to state your religion, your parents’ nationality, their birthplace, how many countries you visited (can only input a max of 20 countries - what if you visited more than 20???), any affiliation or know anyone from Pakistan, questions whether you are a criminal and on and on.

 

Also, you must include a picture of yourself and a picture of your passport. Both file format must be pdf and below a certain file size. I had to convert my images to pdf and crop them to downsize the file.

 

Lastly, the website says you can pay using credit card or PayPal. I tried PayPal but it does not work at all. Then I used credit card and I keep on getting errors and tried multiple times to make payment. The payment process alone took almost an hour.

 

Have you applied to visit India? What are your thoughts on the application process?

I wish they would it simpler so that it's more tourist friendly.

[HappyMan2021]

I don't see what the big deal is honestly. My passport expired, I am traveling to Belgium for surgery in January. It was a big pain and expensive getting my passport renewed but its just what I had to do. You are traveling to another country, you are a guest in that country so you have to abide by their rules. 

5 hours ago, Antlor said:

The form requires you to state your religion, your parents’ nationality, their birthplace, how many countries you visited (can only input a max of 20 countries - what if you visited more than 20???), any affiliation or know anyone from Pakistan, questions whether you are a criminal and on and on.

The religion question is weird but I don't think the rest are strange at all really. All countries want to make sure they aren't letting in terrorists, criminals, etc. 

What country do you live in? If you live in North America or Europe, there are loads of clinics to choose from. If the application process is too much for you, maybe an Indian hair transplant is just not in the stars. Plenty of other clinics though. 

[BaldingEagle1]

It was fine for me..but the questions are ridiculous though I agree. But it is what it is. 

Edited November 18, 2022 by BaldingEagle1

[BaldingEagle1]

7 hours ago, HappyMan2021 said:

I don't see what the big deal is honestly. My passport expired, I am traveling to Belgium for surgery in January. It was a big pain and expensive getting my passport renewed but its just what I had to do. You are traveling to another country, you are a guest in that country so you have to abide by their rules. 

The religion question is weird but I don't think the rest are strange at all really. All countries want to make sure they aren't letting in terrorists, criminals, etc. 

What country do you live in? If you live in North America or Europe, there are loads of clinics to choose from. If the application process is too much for you, maybe an Indian hair transplant is just not in the stars. Plenty of other clinics though. 

I’m Muslim (Indian born) and I put Islam and got my medical evisa approved although it took 4-5 days lol

 

i can imagine if I put yes to the Pakistani relation Question how long or if the app would be denied lol

[NARMAK]

I was born in the UK but i am of Pakistani descent. You'd thinking having been born in the UK and holding a full British passport would make things a breeze, but unfortunately India has a very poor process of many, many hoops to jump through in addition to the regular Visa process and you have to wait months MINIMUM for a decision and even then, i had to go chasing them for a response. 

It's actually a miracle i managed to go to Eugenix at all and tbh, the Visa issues i had unfortunately are truly a nail in the coffin it seems for me ever being able to return. 

I was fortunate i could rebook by my flights during more flexible COVID-19 policies of the airline, but give the fact that you cannot book a flight and be guaranteed a Visa in time as anybody that has Pakistani heritage, its not even worth the effort with how much more money you will end up having to spend. The flights i booked went up double the price almost and if i had to apply for a Visa to India, they tell me to put my expected date of travel, then sign documents that say i have to give them a MINIMUM of 45 working days to process. If i even get past that point, after only chasing them through multiple emails did i get told "Yes, we can give you a Visa to India but it will only be valid for 30 days" or something very small in terms of a window to enter and leave. Usually in most places you can get a Visa that's valid for entry for months and until you first enter the country. India unfortunately has an extremely backwards approach in the UK and if you have any Pakistani heritage, it's probably best to go elsewhere. 

If it wasn’t for the temple points and Eugenix matching the criteria of skill and my budget, i would probably have given up and gone anywhere else. Unfortunately the politics are out of the hands of the clinic, and in the eyes of the government it only affects a minority of people, and because it only affects a minority of people, most don't care. They'll say it's unfair that's the case, but swiftly move on. So there's never any sustained pressure to change such a blatantly discriminatory policy. 

[g8n2h9k3u7]

The visa process is absolutely, absolutely atrocious. OP, at least you have access to the eVisa. India rescinded the eVisa last year for Canada and the UK for reasons of political retaliation. In Canada you have to submit everything by physical copy via mail, which includes sending the physical copy of your passport. You can only pay by bank draft or equivalent. The listed processing time is 30-45 days, although I am skeptical of this timeframe because the backlog appears to be so bad that a whole news article was published about it a few days ago (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/indian-visa-processing-delays-1.6657540). Made any mistakes on your application? They will mail it all back to you and tell you to resubmit it, at the cost of another ~$200 and 1-2 months waiting time. 

I have my date at Eugenix booked in 9 weeks and have already spent $2.6k on plane tickets. I am very worried that my visa won't be approved in time, or that it will be rejected for some minor error in the application, and I won't be able to go. The only other country I have visited, Turkey, had an online visa process that took 5 minutes to fill out and was approved instantly. I had no idea India's would be like this, and if I had known otherwise I would have never chosen to go to Eugenix.