Through the wonders of WikiTravel, I realised that I need a Tourist Visa to enter India. Hooray. No big deal there, right? I have been through countries requiring pre-approved and issued Visas before – China and Vietnam. But, as with all things, assuming that it is simple almost always condemns it to being difficult, obscure and just generally frustrating.
First up, it appears that the Indian Immigration Department has decided to outsource their Visa Application service. Now, there are obvious jokes here, regarding the fact that India is the destination for almost all outsourcing in the Western world when it comes to call centres and the like, and now they are the ones outsourcing it back, but we’ll set that aside for the moment.
So, whilst I was in Singapore last week (on a glorified Visa-Run), I decided to approach one of the many agencies within “Little India” (an apt district). The clerk at the desk advised me that the Indian Embassy in Singapore will not process applications for non-residents of Singapore (ie only Singaporeans, or people staying in Singapore permanently may apply). Arriving back in Bangkok, and having read rough reports of the Indian Embassy in Bangkok allowing foreigners to apply, I tracked down the Visa Application Centre in Asoke.
Arriving at the foyer for their office in the Glas Haus tower, I was instructed by the rent-a-thug to switch off my mobile phone before he then ran a metal detector over me. A bit of overkill security wise, I would have thought, considering I could have accessed the 14th or 16th floors (directly above or below the centre) if I had been planning on any unsecheduled demolition work. Anyway, after the scan, he gave me two forms to complete and opened the secure door into the deserted waiting room.
The waiting room had seating for about 200 people, but when I was there the only people in the room were three attendants behind the counter, myself, and another attendant who was playing his Playstation Portable whilst either leaning on, or holding up, a photocopier in the corner of the room.
Having completed the forms (including some unusual questions about my parents’ names, which I haven’t had before), and paying the sum of 6 Thai Baht (AU$0.20) for two photocopies of my passport, I approached the counter.
The attendant at the counter asked me for my queue number. “What queue number? What queue?” was my response. But, without a little ticket with a number on it, he would not handle my application. So back out into the foyer, over to the ‘conveniently’ located ticketing machine, and back into the waiting room. Upon returning to the counter the attendant took my numbered slip, but not without some protest as the number was not what he had expected (“004″ rather than “990+”). Big deal.
After taking the papers, the photocopies, the two passport photos and my passport, he then advised me that I would need to pay 2135 Thai Baht (AU$74.42). That was a little more than I had expected, but only a little. My Vietnamese visa had cost me around the same, and had only been for one month (exactly one month, as a fact, from the stated date of arrival to having to get out of Dodge) rather than the six month window this Visa should afford me. He gave me a slip and sent me to another counter where I forked over my cash and got a cashier’s cheque in return, which I returned to the initial counter with.
After all was stapled and stamped, the attendant then advised me that I would also have to pay a 482 Thai Baht (AU$16.80) application fee. I had seen this charge mentioned on a small notice shown at the counter, but it was mentioned directly below a headline mentioning that they now offered a courier service to send the completed Visa out to you in your hotel/hostel/hovel. I questioned the price, but the attendant did not have much to say other than it must be paid, so out came the wallet again and over went the cash.
So, now I am waiting for my Visa application to be completed.
5 Working Days – The longest processing timeframe I have dealt with as yet.
2617 Thai Baht (AU$99.22) – The most expensive application fee I have paid as yet.
Funny how the Immigration officials do such a great job putting people off visiting their country. Happened here with the exorbitant Visa fees and timeframe, happened with Cambodia with their institutionalised fee scam. Just hope the people of India are as wonderful as Shantaram makes them out to be, so they can help me forget about the sting in my pocket a little.
2 Users Response In This Post
its fair retribution I’d say. The US charges most 3rd citizens $150 US so stop complaining
Now, whilst I can see that the US does charge for their Visas (I believe the application fee is US$131, just to get the facts straight – not US$150 as you suggest), that charge is relatively small in relation to the per capita income in that country. The average income, per person, in the US was US$40,208 [1]. As such, a visa fee of US$131 represents 0.3% of the average income for a resident of that country. The Indian via, which cost me AU$99.22 (or US$90.88 at today’s exchange rates) when viewed with reference to the average Indian per capita income of US$1,068 represents 8.5% of the average income for a resident of that country.
The object of my post was that the visa fees charged for Indian visas are nor proportionate to the national wealth, do not represent the costs incurred to service foreigners during their stay in the country and are not within what I considered to be the scope of reasonable rates as I experienced within South East Asia. I would not consider the rates to be, as you suggest, “far retribution”, nor, I am sure, would most other travellers. Further, if the fees charged by the United States of America for their visas was the main cause for this fee, then why wouldn’t India take a similar tact to China by applying fees which are determined by the country of origin of the traveller as opposed to a blanket fee charging all at the highest rate?
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