An E-visa
The foreign nationals should own their Electronic visa alias E-visa to enter into a specific country and stay there for a certain period. Through electronically the entire information of a person will be stored in an E-visa. An electronic copy of the E-visa will be sent to the person’s email id by the Visa issuing authority. The main purpose of issuing E-visa is to facilitate foreign travellers to stay in some foreign countries for a particular time.
The Application process of Indian E-visa
Foreigners who visit India for various purposes such as meet with friends and relatives, tourism, and short business stay are issued with E-visas. The applicants can apply for Indian Tourist E-Visa Online by sending passport, photo and other relevant documents scanned copy instead of sending the passport to their embassy to apply for an India Tourist Visa. Their fee is also paid through online. Soon after receiving the completed application form along with the payment, the person will receive E-visa to his email id. The person shall carry a printed copy of the email when visiting India. E-visa is currently offered to 43 countries by the Indian Government. The Visa application process may take at least a minimum of 3 days for the Mission or the Indian Post. Based on the reason for the visit and the nationality of the applicant, the Visa will be issued. Some of the applicants hesitate to go for online application and approach Reliable Visa Facilitators for India such as travel agents.
The required documents for getting Indian E-visas for the US citizens
• Scanned copy of the first and last page of the person’s American passport in PDF format
• White background passport size photograph in JPEG format
Besides the above documents, the traveller should keep the details of his/her work-related information, passport details of parents and spouse in hand. One can apply to Indian E-visa as often as he wants. There is no limitation stipulated.
Staying period in India
A traveller who travels from the US to India should note that even though his E-visa may be valid for 1-5 years, he may not continuously stay in India for the whole period. A traveller cannot lengthen his continuous period of stay above 90 days that is especially applied for US citizens. A US citizen can continuously stay in India for up to 180 days.
A US traveller is required to produce the following documents during his arrival to India:
• E-visa printed copy
• Any invitation letter
• Medical insurance coverage until the staying period
• A valid passport for a minimum of 6 months
Online Visa Scheme and its extension
“The travellers have to get their visa to India through online” which was the primitive aim of the Union Tourism Ministry to introduce online visa program in 2013. Currently, the scheme has been successfully extended to 36 new countries. Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, and a few others fall among the new countries’ list. However, the E-visa is most popular in countries such as the United States, China, United Kingdom, Australia and France. There is a huge growth seen in E-visa application by over 200% between the 2015 beginning and 2016.
Of late, many US travellers have been flying to India, the introduction of the E-visa has been a great boon to limit their physical presence.