1.
Posted by nickl (Budding Member, 21 posts)
11 Jan '13 19:52
nickl has indicated that this thread is about India
Hi guys,
Just a quick question regarding Visa's for India; I'm from the UK but currently in Australia, I am travelling to Sri Lanka on the 14th Feb, planning on sticking around for a week or so then hopping across to India for a while.
I haven't applied for my Visa yet, and was wondering if anybody knows if they're easy to get hold of in Sri Lanka? I've found that generally buying visas from a neighbouring country to where you want to go is the fastest, cheapest, and easiest option but don't want to arrive in SL without my India Visa and get caught short.
I can't seem to find anything online specificially about an India/SL Visa link, I was wondering if anyone has experience of this or I should get both my visas sorted before I depart?
Cheers,
Nick
2.
Posted by Ranjankar1 (Budding Member, 43 posts)
11 Jan '13 20:28
Hi Nick,
There will be no advantage in applying for India visa in Sri Lanka . Getting visa in a short time may be difficult.
It will be better for you to apply in Australia at the Indian embassy . You also have enough time in Australia to do that .
Sometimes Indian embassies act not so friendly in issuing visas . Sad but true.
All the Best
Ranjan Kar
3.
Posted by nickl (Budding Member, 21 posts)
11 Jan '13 20:35
Hi Ranjan,
Thanks for the advice, Indian visa applications have been outsourced to a company called VFS (an acronym I assume). I can apply online then take my passport and photographs to their office in person (its only a 20 minute walk from my house) so it should be fairly straight forward once the form filling is out of the way, I just didn't know if it was even easier and cheap to get it in SL...
For my trip to China for example, I had a bit of a f**k on getting even a 30 day visa from the embassy in Cambodia; if I'd have popped through Hong Kong I could have gotten a 6 month one from my hotel and it would have been $7USD cheaper... I wasn't sure if SL/India had a similar set up..
I'll get applying now!
Cheers,
Nick
4.
Posted by Dodger (Respected Member, 792 posts)
11 Jan '13 23:56
Check out this forum for up to day info on obtaining a Indian visa in Sri Lanka. India Mike
Looks like its an easy process, takes 5 days. I doubt it will be any cheaper. The only advantage would be that the Indian visa starts running from the day its approved. So if you applied for a 6 month visa in Aus and didn't get to Indian for another 5 months, you'd only have 1 month left on your visa!
5.
Posted by nickl (Budding Member, 21 posts)
12 Jan '13 00:08
Fantastic, cheers Dodger
I've applied online now (albeit I need to pop along to VFS in Sydney at some point with a printed copy of what I completed online, my fee, and passport photos); think I dodged a bit of a bullet by not waiting until SL... wouldn't want to waste of my trip...
I'm heading over in 5 weeks and only sticking around for a maximum of 6-8 weeks so should have plenty of time even if its granted and issued before the end of the week
Cheers for your help guys
Nick
