India to launch E-Visa Facility for 40 countries

Visitors from over 40 countries, including Germany, the US, Israel and Palestine, will soon be able to avail the electronic visa (E-Visa) facility of India. The tourism ministry along with the home ministry will launch the facility on 27^th November 2014.

Key Facts

• In order to get an e-Visa, foreigners/tourists would need to apply on the designated website along with the required fees.
• Within 96 hours of applying on designated website, foreigners will be granted an electronic version of the visa.
• The software arrangements needed for providing e-Visa Facility are now ready and would become operational at nine international airports – Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Goa.
• As per the government decision, all countries, except a few in the prior list, would be brought into the e-visa regime over the next two years. But Government has barred a few countries from e-Visa Facility like Pakistan, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Somalia.
• The countries which currently have Visa on Arrival (VOA) facility in India will also be covered under the new scheme.
• All countries will be included under this facility in a phase-wise manner by 2015. Russia, Brazil, Germany, Thailand, UAE, Ukraine, Jordan, Norway and Mauritius, among others, would be getting the e-visa facility in the first phase.

e-Visa facility is expected to give a big boost to foreign tourist arrivals in India and help to trap full potential tourism industry.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2014