Turkish travellers will still not be able to apply for an Indian visa in the coming years. By now, India has 160 countries that qualify for applying for an Indian visa online. The list includes the United Kingdom; British nationals can thus easily apply for an electronic visa online.
Turkey does not have this privilege, and will likely not receive it in the near future. This was revealed by the Turkish ambassador, Sakit Ozlan Torunlar.
Indian visa for Turkey
Turkish travellers still cannot apply for an Indian visa. This despite the trade agreement which India and Turkey recently concluded with each other. The treaty is good for some 6.5 billion dollar of trade between India and Turkey.
As the treaty is beneficial for both Europe and Asia, Turkey would have liked to see itself placed on the list of countries that qualify for the Indian e-visa. Even more so because the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and minister-president Narendra Modi brokered another trade agreement for 2020, valued at 10 billion dollars.
Jal Mahal (water palace), Jaipur, India
Turkey visa for India
Conversely, it is possible for inhabitants of India to travel with a digital Turkey visa to Turkey. The Turkish ambassador is annoyed by the fact that Turkey remains excluded from the list of 160 countries that can apply for a digital Indian visa. The ambassador reminds India that applying for an online visa for Turkey has been possible for a while now. At the moment, a Turkish delegation is in India.
The past year, 90.000 Indian travellers visited Turkey. This is 70% of all visa application, according to the Turkish delegation.
Problems digital Indian visa
A number of problems led to Turkey being excluded from the list of 160 countries that can apply for their Indian visa online. Last year, there were a number of issues, according to Erdogan. He suggested that the Turkish and Indian people should keep their own currency, and that the local Chambers of Commerce should open a main office in India and Turkey.
According to Sakit Ozlan Torunlar the trade agreement with India is heavily favored towards India. “The most important thing is to look at how we can increase our trade”, Torunlar said to the Indian Express. He also notes that since 2011, Turkish Airlines is making seven flights each week to Turkey from Delhi and Mumbai.
Indian visa for British travellers
For British travellers, there are different rules regarding the online Indian visa compared to travellers from Turkey. Although Turkish travellers can only apply for a paper visa at the Indian embassy in Turkey, this is not the case for British nationals.
The UK is part of the 160 countries with which India has a treaty. This means that it is possible to be apply for an electronic Indian visa online. Applying for the digital Indian visa can be done within 15 minutes. It’s possible to put multiple travellers in a single application. Be sure to to write down the passport information of each traveller. Finally, the visa needs to be paid per person. The fee for the Indian visa is £59.95 per visa. Applying can be easily done online; you won’t need to take your passport to the embassy or consulate.
The Indian visa is sent by e-mail after payment. Paying can be done with Visa, MasterCard, American Express or PayPal. Both tourists as well as business travellers need to possess an Indian visa. Likewise, children and babies must have their own Indian visa. This means that even if the they are included in the passports of their parents, children still need to have their own visa.
With the Indian visa you can choose from three types, the ‘eTourist Indian visa’, meant for tourists, the ‘eMedicial Indian visa’, meant for people visiting India on medical affairs and the ‘eBusiness Indian visa’, meant for business trips. Read more about the types of visas for India.
With all three of the visa types you can stay in India for a maximum of 60 days. You are allowed to enter and exit the country twice. The validity duration starts the moment you arrive in India. The actual date of arrival cannot be more than 30 days from the date indicated on the Indian e-visa. Furthermore, it is possible to apply for a visa for India multiple times in a single year. The passport does not be valid for at least six more months starting from the moment of arrival in India.
Urgent application Indian visa
Are you in urgent need of an Indian visa? In that case, it’s possible to submit an urgent application. For an urgent application, you fill in the regular application, and then check the option ‘urgent delivery’. Submitting an urgent application comes with a small added fee. Most visas that are applied for with urgency are generally approved within a single day, and sent by e-mail. Processing in India is done manually, meaning there are no guarantees regarding delivery times.
In some cases, an applied for visa can take up to three or four days, for instance when the government in India needs more time to properly screen the application. Apply for your Indian visa on time.
Please note: this news article about the visa for India is more than one year old. It might contain outdated information and advice, and no rights can therefore be derived from this article. Are you going on a trip soon and do you wish to do know what rules currently apply? Read all about the up-to-date information about the visa for India.