India offers visa on arrival

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Bangladesh among 180 countries; existing system to continue for sometime

In an effort to boost tourism, India has decided to extend visa-on-arrival facility to tourists from Bangladesh and 179 other countries with effect from October. The decision will hugely benefit Bangladeshi travellers who often face difficulties and have to spend a considerable amount of time for getting Indian visa. Around 5 lakh Bangladeshis, a large number of who are tourists, visit India every year. The Indian High Commission in Dhaka yesterday said there were no changes in the current visa procedures, and it advised Bangladeshi nationals to follow the procedures for visiting India. Eight countries have been kept out of the single-entry visa-on-arrival facility, meant for purposes other than paid employment and education with a one-month time limit. Those are Pakistan, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Somalia. "We have decided to extend visa-on-arrival to tourists from 180 nations. It will take five to six months to put the infrastructure in place,” India's Junior Minister for Planning and Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla told reporters after a Planning Commission meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday. "It is a major move and we hope it will boost tourism in a big way. We hope to implement this from the next tourist season starting October,” said the minister. The facility could later be extended to business visa seekers, Shukla said. The Indian minister said the proposal was cleared at the meeting attended by Deputy Chairman of the Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and other senior officials. India currently provides the facility to 11 countries, including New Zealand, Singapore, Luxembourg, Japan, Vietnam and Finland. Foreign tourist arrivals in India stood at 6.84 million in 2013, and the latest decision to extend visa-on-arrival is expected to provide a major boost to the number of tourists. To begin with, necessary infrastructure will be put in place around 26 airports, including those in Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, to provide the facility. A website will be launched for extending the facility to foreigners intending to visit India as tourists. They will need to fill a simple form, pay the required fee with a bank card and apply for visa on the designated website. And they will be issued with electronic travel authorisation within three days. On arrival in India, a simple biometric identification will be done at the airport. If anyone wants to extend his stay beyond 30 days, he will have to get another visa from the authorities. The Indian High Commission in Dhaka issued a press release yesterday to clarify the reports in the Indian media on the future changes in visa procedures. A spokesperson for the High Commission said the current visa procedures remained unchanged as far as Bangladesh was concerned. The present online system for all visa applications continues, and if any change is made to the existing system, it will be made public through announcements, added the spokesperson.