NO Visa on Arrival in India for Filipinos only Electronic Tourist Visa  – Updated 2015

*No more Tourist Visa on Arrival in India, it has been replaced with Electronic Tourist Visa so you need to apply online for visa before going to India.

 PLEASE READ MY NEW BLOG HERE:  INDIA E-VISA REQUIREMENTS + APPLICATION

Philippine Passport Holders (Filipinos) are eligible for Electronic Tourist Visa (eTV) for India  for the following 16 airports: Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram),  Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Chennai, Cochin, Delhi, Gaya, Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Tiruchirapalli & Varanasi. But, you can exit from any of the authorized Immigration Check Posts (ICPs) in India.  Make sure you bring with you when you travel to India the copy of your Electronic Tourist Visa (eTV ).
Other countries that can take advantage of  Electronic Tourist Visa on Arrival (eTV) in India are: Andorra, Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Cayman Island,Chile, China, China- SAR Hongkong, China- SAR Macau, Colombia, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kiribati, Laos, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nauru, Netherlands, New Zealand,Nicaragua, Niue Island, Norway, Oman, Palau, Palestine, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru,  Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of Macedonia, Russia, Saint Christopher and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, Samoa, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Sweden, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Tonga, Turks & Caicos Island, Tuvalu, UAE, Ukraine, United Kingdom, USA, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Vatican City-Holy See, Venezuela, Vietnam.

Also note that you can still visit the Embassy of India if you wish to apply for regular tourist visa.

Electronic Tourist Visa (eTV/Evisa) in India is valid for 30 days upon arrival (cannot be extended), single entry and can only be used twice in a year. However, you need to apply online minimum 4 days in advance of the date of arrival with a window of 30 days. For example, if you are applying on 1st of April, then you can select an arrival date from April 5th to May 4th.

 

How Visa on Arrival in India Works:

1. Apply online at https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/tvoa.html. You need to upload your photo with white background (minimum size 10 KB and maximum size 300 KB, JPEG file. height and width of photo must be equal and no borders) and passport page containing your personal detail like name, birth date, passport number, exp date, etc..

2. Pay visa fee online. You can pay using debit card or credit card  at least 4 days before your expected date of arrival, otherwise application will not be processed. Electronic Tourist Visa fee for India is territory/country specific, could be US$0 to US$60 per passenger (excluding interchange charge for debit/credit card which is 2.5%). For Philippine Passport holder, it is US $48.

Click here for the list of of electronic tourist visa fee for India for your country: https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/eTV_revised_fee_final.pdf 

3. Receive ETA online. It will be sent to you e-mail.

4. Print your ETA and carry it when you fly to India.

*Make sure you have copies of  your return or onward ticket with sufficient money to spend during your stay in India.

*I also recommend bringing copies of hotel bookings, bank statements and your detailed itinerary in India since the Immigration Officers in the Philippines might ask for it.  I also suggest to take note of the Hotel name, address and contact number in case the Immigration Officer asks for it.

(India Tourist Visa on Arrival stamp)

 

Eligibility:

International Travellers whose sole objective of visiting India is recreation , sight seeing , casual visit to meet friends or relatives, short duration medical treatment or casual business visit.

Passport should have at least six months validity from the date of arrival in India.

The passport should have at least two blank pages for stamping by the Immigration Officer.

International Travellers should have return ticket or onward journey ticket,with sufficient money to spend during his/her stay in India.

International Travellers having Pakistani Passport or Pakistani origin may please apply for regular Visa at Indian Mission.

Not available to Diplomatic/Official Passport Holders.

Not available to individuals endorsed on Parent’s/Spouse’s Passport i.e. each individual should have a separate passport.

Not available to International Travel Document Holders.

(source: https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/tvoa.html)

***************************************************************************

* IMPORTANT: The story below is my experience applying for Tourist Visa on Arrival at Trivandrum Airport  in Kerala back in 2013. Do keep in mind that the TOURIST VISA ON ARRIVAL IN INDIA  HAS BEEN DISCONTINUED  and replaced with ELECTRONIC TOURIST VISA,you can get this by applying online. Please see instructions above.

Since I was scheduled to join the Kerala Blog Express for 16 days last March, I decided to try the Tourist Visa on Arrival at Trivandrum Airport  in Kerala, Southern India with  a friend.  We arrived midnight from our connecting flight in Singapore, and at that  time, there were only two of us who applied for the Visa on Arrival at Trivandrum Airport. There were around six Immigration Officers attending to us, they were very nice but the process still took about 30 minutes.

(Trivandrum International Airport in India)

I just had a problem at the airport in the Philippines while checking in to my flight because the Tigerair employee didn’t know that Filipinos are entitled to Visa on Arrival in India particularly at Trivandrum Airport, so he had to ask his colleagues before allowing me to check in, however only one of them is aware about it so I had to wait a couple of minutes for him to confirm that information. I hope Tigerair will train their employees about Visa-free or countries with Visa on Arrival facilities (especially those countries with Tigerair routes) to avoid delays.

Good luck in applying for Electronic Tourist Visa for India! I recommend flying in (or flying out) at Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram) or Kochi Airport.  Do explore Kerala when visiting India! Watch out for my Kerala blog post series!

KERALAHOTEL

*First published April 6, 2014

*Updated February 26, 2015

*Updated November 9, 2015

 

Disclosure:  Our India trip was made possible by Kerala Tourism through Kerala Blog Express where 27 bloggers, writers and photographers from 14 countries explored the state ( from Trivandrum to Cochin) last March 9-26, 2014 .

 

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