A foreign national who wish to travel to India is required to possess a valid Indian Visa along with a valid passport issued to him by his parent country. There are various types of Visa that are granted depending upon the purpose of travel. Some of the visas applied for India are tourist visa, student visa, business visa, journalist visa, employment visa, research visa and so on. Most of the visas are valid for 6 months only. However, they can be extended based on the decision of Indian embassy. Mostly visas allow multiple entries. Bureau of Immigration handles all the work related to immigration.
Process of applying for an Indian Visa
One can apply for an Indian Visa online as well as through one of the offices of Indian Embassy in one’s respective country.
Many travel agents or private agencies that are authorized to apply on an individual’s behalf can also be considered. Pre- requisites for applying visa includes complete form duly filled in all respects, a certain amount of fee, one’s passport, four recent passport size photographs and supporting documents as per the kind of visa applied. The fee for the visa differs in every country. For example, in UK the fee is £30, in US it is $60, Australians pay AUD 75 (an extra AUD 15 service fee is applicable at consulates) and Japanese citizens pay just ¥1200.
Authorized agency for issuing of Indian Visa in foreign nationals
In US, Travisa Outsourcing issues the visas. However in other countries like UK, Australia, Thailand, France, China and Sri Lanka, VSF Global issues the visas.
Visas Extensions
Visa extensions come under the Foreigner’s Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Their office address is Jaisalmer House, 26, Man Singh Road New Delhi. Application for the extension of Visa has to be registered well in advance and with all the supporting documents. The rules and regulations governing the visa extensions are quite stringent and can be read and understood from their official website.
FRROs/FROs
Some officials in the major cities are given the responsibility of all the tasks related to immigration and its registration. These officials are termed as FRROs, Foreigners Regional Registration Officers. Major cities where one can locate FRROs include Mumbai, Chennai, Amritsar, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
FROs or the Foreigners Registration Officers are the one who are appointed for the immigration work and represent the District Superintendents of Police.
Please Note
One should make sure that he/she must not finalize their travel plans before getting the service they have applied for. Also, these Services are granted at the judgment of the Government of India and the application fee is not refundable in case the service applied for gets refused.