Indian visa on arrival for Indonesia and Myanmar citizens

India, 27th January: The government of India has introduced a single-entry visa on arrival scheme to be valid for a maximum period of up to 30 days.

Any potential visitor to India is eligible to receive such an Indian visa by making a payment of $60 or an equal amount in the Indian currency for each passenger as fees at the Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi and Chennai airports.

This facility is currently being extended to the Indonesian and Myanmar citizens.

The Indian visa-on-arrival scheme is being extended to the visitors from the above named nations after the scheme became a big success with nations including Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Finland and Singapore since its introduction way back in January 2010.

According to the statement released by the Indian Home Ministry, the Indian visa-on-arrival scheme has been quite successful and beneficial for the foreigners. A total of 6,569 foreign nationals availed the Indian tourist visa-on-arrival (TVOA) till December 2010.

Hence, the Indian government has decided to extend this scheme to the nationals of Indonesia and Myanmar, the statement added.

Further, the Indian government had extended the scheme to the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. The scheme was introduced for such nations in January 2011. The aim of the introduction of such visa by the Indian government is to promote Indian tourism.

An Indian tourist visa-on-arrival allows citizens of Indonesia and Myanmar to visit India twice in a year with a minimum gap of at least two months between the two visits.

The statement by the Indian Home Ministry revealed that the Indian tourist visa-on-arrival is non-convertible and non-extendable. Foreign nationals of such nations will have the facility of availing such visas for the purpose of seeking medical treatment, for visiting relatives or friends and for casual business.

Meanwhile, those having official or diplomatic passports are not valid to avail the facility of Indian tourist visa-on-arrival.

Moreover, foreigners having either a permanent residence in India or occupation in India will not be granted such visa facility. Nonetheless, such foreigners will be permitted to be governed by normal Indian visa rules for visiting the nation.