mika_duffer
Junior Member
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2022
- Posts
- 17
Hi all this is a post for anyone that finds themselves in the same boat as me and is panicking. It's alright!
TLDR If you are heading to India and forgot to apply for your visa until less than 4 days until you travel: Apply for your visa straight away. Choose the soonest arrival date possible when it asks, even if it's after your expected arrival date. It will come through in ~18 hours. The visa is valid from the date that it is issued so it doesn't matter if you leave in less than 4 days. If you are scheduled to leave within 2 days, I would text (don't call, they won't answer) this number explaining the situation: Contact Number for after-hours Emergency Visa Service: 0430 020 828 (For VIC and TAS only). Good luck!
My partner and I are flying to Europe via Delhi with a 2 night layover in New Delhi. We depart on the 20th July in the AM.
We were aware that we needed to obtain e-visas but completely forgot about it until 2 days ago...
The e-visas are applied for via the Official Indian website at e-Visa
The visas can be applied for "minimum 4 days in advance". We realised that we didn't have our visas 3 days in advance... Panic.
I log onto the website immediately to start to apply for our visa. One of the first questions it asks is "Expected date of arrival". You can select the date from a calendar pop-up, you can't just type it in.
First problem: it will not let you select a date within 4 days. Meaning, when I was applying on the 17th of July the earliest date I could select was the 21st of July, the day after we were scheduled to arrive.
Ffffffff!
Spiralling questions:
Will the visas even be processed on time now that it's only 3 days until we fly?
If we do get them, but the visas aren't valid until the 21st, will we be refused entry at immigration in India? Or be forced to wait in the airport until the clock strikes midnight? That's 7 hours, our bags are going to either be spinning on the carousel for that whole time or will be taken to lost and found, in Delhi Airport. Will we lose all our luggage prior to a 4 week holiday in Europe?
If we technically don't have a visa for the day we arrive, will we even be let on the plane in Australia?
I cut my losses and apply and pay for the visas with the arrival date stated as 21st July and then begin to troubleshoot.
Once you finish applying you get a confirmation page that says:
"For any assistance contact e-Visa support center at [email protected]
and for Tele Enquiries (IVRS enquiry) call at +91-11-24300666 . Please use 00456972323 as key."
I immediately sent an email and tried calling that number in India.
I called that number for about 2 hours straight. Two things would either happen: 1. The hold music would cut out, thinking someone had picked up the phone, but it was just silence, with no response, no matter how long you stayed on the call. OR 2. The call would randomly just drop out/fail.
I was not successful getting through at all.
I Googled Emergency E-Visa India and found this webpage Welcome to Consulate General of India Melbourne, Australia
The webpage states that "Emergency Visa is only issued in case of genuine emergency like death or serious illness of immediate family member (blood relation)." and that you need "proof" of this kind of emergency in order to apply.
"Contact Number for after-hours Emergency Visa Service: 0430 020 828 (For VIC and TAS only)"
They ask you to send an SMS rather than call - I tried calling initially before I saw this instruction and got voicemail a couple of times.
Once I realised, I sent a text detailing the situation.
10 minutes later I received the following reply:
"Please apply evisa as early as possible. Don't bother about this date. You can put your arrival date 22. There is no issue. You may get the visa in 24hrs time. And once you get the visa, you can travel immediately"
This was the first time my heart rate came below 100 the entire time
.
It turns out, the visa is valid from the time/date that it is ISSUED. The "expected date of arrival" actually has nothing to do with it.
Thankfully, we both received our visas 17 hours after applying. They arrived on the 18th of July and the visas are valid from the 18th of July.
We applied for the 1 year visa, (as we also have a layover in Delhi on our way back, which was longer than 30 days after our first layover, meaning we couldn't get a 30 day visa). The 1 year visa cost us 41.39 euros each inclusive of the card surcharge.
I'm writing this post because while waiting on hold to that number in India I was scrolling through AFF looking for anyone that had been in this situation before. Turns out maybe I'm the most disorganised AFF member!! So this post is for anyone else that finds themselves in this situation in future.
All the best
Duff
TLDR If you are heading to India and forgot to apply for your visa until less than 4 days until you travel: Apply for your visa straight away. Choose the soonest arrival date possible when it asks, even if it's after your expected arrival date. It will come through in ~18 hours. The visa is valid from the date that it is issued so it doesn't matter if you leave in less than 4 days. If you are scheduled to leave within 2 days, I would text (don't call, they won't answer) this number explaining the situation: Contact Number for after-hours Emergency Visa Service: 0430 020 828 (For VIC and TAS only). Good luck!
My partner and I are flying to Europe via Delhi with a 2 night layover in New Delhi. We depart on the 20th July in the AM.
We were aware that we needed to obtain e-visas but completely forgot about it until 2 days ago...
The e-visas are applied for via the Official Indian website at e-Visa
The visas can be applied for "minimum 4 days in advance". We realised that we didn't have our visas 3 days in advance... Panic.
I log onto the website immediately to start to apply for our visa. One of the first questions it asks is "Expected date of arrival". You can select the date from a calendar pop-up, you can't just type it in.
First problem: it will not let you select a date within 4 days. Meaning, when I was applying on the 17th of July the earliest date I could select was the 21st of July, the day after we were scheduled to arrive.
Ffffffff!
Spiralling questions:
Will the visas even be processed on time now that it's only 3 days until we fly?
If we do get them, but the visas aren't valid until the 21st, will we be refused entry at immigration in India? Or be forced to wait in the airport until the clock strikes midnight? That's 7 hours, our bags are going to either be spinning on the carousel for that whole time or will be taken to lost and found, in Delhi Airport. Will we lose all our luggage prior to a 4 week holiday in Europe?
If we technically don't have a visa for the day we arrive, will we even be let on the plane in Australia?
I cut my losses and apply and pay for the visas with the arrival date stated as 21st July and then begin to troubleshoot.
Once you finish applying you get a confirmation page that says:
"For any assistance contact e-Visa support center at [email protected]
and for Tele Enquiries (IVRS enquiry) call at +91-11-24300666 . Please use 00456972323 as key."
I immediately sent an email and tried calling that number in India.
I called that number for about 2 hours straight. Two things would either happen: 1. The hold music would cut out, thinking someone had picked up the phone, but it was just silence, with no response, no matter how long you stayed on the call. OR 2. The call would randomly just drop out/fail.
I was not successful getting through at all.
I Googled Emergency E-Visa India and found this webpage Welcome to Consulate General of India Melbourne, Australia
The webpage states that "Emergency Visa is only issued in case of genuine emergency like death or serious illness of immediate family member (blood relation)." and that you need "proof" of this kind of emergency in order to apply.
"Contact Number for after-hours Emergency Visa Service: 0430 020 828 (For VIC and TAS only)"
They ask you to send an SMS rather than call - I tried calling initially before I saw this instruction and got voicemail a couple of times.
Once I realised, I sent a text detailing the situation.
10 minutes later I received the following reply:
"Please apply evisa as early as possible. Don't bother about this date. You can put your arrival date 22. There is no issue. You may get the visa in 24hrs time. And once you get the visa, you can travel immediately"
This was the first time my heart rate came below 100 the entire time
.It turns out, the visa is valid from the time/date that it is ISSUED. The "expected date of arrival" actually has nothing to do with it.
Thankfully, we both received our visas 17 hours after applying. They arrived on the 18th of July and the visas are valid from the 18th of July.
We applied for the 1 year visa, (as we also have a layover in Delhi on our way back, which was longer than 30 days after our first layover, meaning we couldn't get a 30 day visa). The 1 year visa cost us 41.39 euros each inclusive of the card surcharge.
I'm writing this post because while waiting on hold to that number in India I was scrolling through AFF looking for anyone that had been in this situation before. Turns out maybe I'm the most disorganised AFF member!! So this post is for anyone else that finds themselves in this situation in future.
All the best
Duff
