The visit of Crown Prince His Royal Highness Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, to India Saudi Commission for Tourism & National Heritage in the kingdom and the home ministry of India are progressing towards implementing electronic visas available for Saudi nations at the earliest, which eases the process and cuts the cost considerably in obtaining the visa. When comes to the commercial aspect of obtaining an e visa will cost less than what it takes to obtain a traditional visa.
As a matter of fact India has already granted e-Visa facility for 166 countries and territories and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the latest addition to the list. Also along with the new idea of e-visa the country has decided to remove the biometric visa system for Saudi nationals. Currently India has made E visa for 3 gulf countries which are United Arab Emirates,Oman & Qatar.
This implementation will allow Saudi tourists to get their visas online, without the hassle of intermediaries or agents. This enables a transparency in obtaining visas for travellers travelling to India. The tour operators and destination managers across India has welcomed the initiative to extend electronic visa to Saudi nationals and easing the travelling procedures as it would boost the number of incoming visitors to the state and country.
The Indian e-Visa’s website (https://indianvisaonline.gov.in) lists the current requirements for obtaining a tourist visa. The four step process has eased the documentation process into a much easier task than before. Obtaining an E visa has simplified the hassle of procedures and as mentioned earlier the cost is also considerably lesser than obtaining the traditional visa.
To obtain an E visa your passport should have at least 6 months validity from the date of arrival in India, and two face to face blank pages. 4 steps to obtain an e visa is as follows
- Visiting the Indian embassy website will have an application form in which the applicant should fill the same with recent photograph and scanned copy of passport.
- Pay online visa fee either with netbanking, credit card or debit card
- The applicant will receive the visa with 48 hours.
- Fly to India (make sure you carry a printout of your visa while travelling)
Gateway Malabar here is looking forward for the implementation of the e-visa as it could cater more number of visitors to the cultural hub of India, Kerala. The travel planners of Gateway Malabar will continue their support to their guests in obtaining the Visas electronically. Also Gateway Malabar will help their guests in obtaining e Visa.