Excitement among US tourists as PM announces long-term Visa to India

While addressing the Indian American community at the Madison Square Garden in New York, the Prime Minister of India- Narendra Modi made sure to strengthen the country’s relationship with the United States of America. Throughout his speech yesterday, the PM focused on various measures to ease the travel process to India for US travelers and assured that the Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) and Visa on Arrival (VOA) for US citizens are on the cards and will be implemented immediately. 

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During his near hour-long speech, the PM also announced to extend lifelong Visa for PIO card holders. Soon, the PIO and OCI schemes will be merged and the respective card holders will be granted a visa for life.

Initially, India introduced the tourist VOA facility for the citizens of only five countries, but now, the citizens of almost eleven nations can avail the scheme benefits. These countries are- Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Laos, Myanmar, Indonesia and South Korea.

To get detailed information on India ETA,  you may visit: www.indiaeta.com

180 countries to enjoy India ETA Visa by October

The facility of Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) will be enjoyed by tourists from almost 180 countries from October 2 in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and seven other international airports in India.

As per the sources, the Bureau of Immigration (BoI) has received commands from their superiors to set up the facilities, so that the ETA installations could be done by 2nd October.  Though a little alteration is made to the statement given by the Centre, as now the visa facility will be extended to 140 countries instead of 180 countries. “We are awaiting further clarifications from the headquarters in this regard,” said BoI sources here.

While, the arrangements for starting up the ETA facility has already started by the officials, The Airports Authority of India rendered extra space in the arrival area of the international terminal. Increase of manpower to facilitate the new ETA system at the airport is also asked for by the BoI.

Initially the center decided to introduce an ETA facility at nine airports for citizens of 180 countries, except for the eight prior reference countries like Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

India to start E Visa facility for foreign travelers

With India becoming one of the most preferred holiday destinations, the government of India is constantly working towards improvising the facilities for visitors to make it a comfortable journey for them to the country. Recently the government has announced that soon the tourists from as many as 40 nations would be able to apply for an E Visa from their home.

If the sources are to be believed, this new idea will come into existence by the end of 2014. The eligible countries for India ETA are the USA, the UK, Russia, Canada, Germany, Australia, Malaysia, France and others. As per the plans, the authorities are planning to include almost 109 nations in the eligible list by the start of the first phase of visa reform.

Image courtesy : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

ETA or Electronic Travel Authorization is the easiest form of applying for a Visa. Once the applicant fills the application online, an online confirmation is sent to him within five working days. The validity period of ETA Visa is expected to  be 30 days from the day the tourist arrives in India.

A separate website would be set by the Indian government to make it easy for applicants to apply for their visa online. To avail the visa from this website the applicants would need to fill-in the visa application form with their details and submit it along with the required processing fees.

For more information and details, you may visit www.indiaeta.com