Indian Visa Application Walk-through (UK National)

Hi everyone, so I've recently had to go through the grueling process of applying for a Visa for India after experiencing the same thing many others have - Booking a holiday to India, realising you cant get an E-Visa and the Visa takes months to get, having to cancel my plans last minute, losing a lot of money and being very disappointed

I found a few posts on Reddit quite far into my journey of getting the Visa which were all remarkably helpful, however only one post I saw actually talked through the whole process in detail and successfully managed to obtain a Visa - I'm grateful to all those people that posted, it was very reassuring for me as this was a hard time for me and my girlfriend that lives in India so wanted to chip in my experience for other people who are struggling with this process

  1. RECOUPING YOUR COSTS - when you've realised you won't be flying out, travel insurance won't pay you usually for having to cancel due to not having relevant documents. I was quite fortunate as I wasn't aware of any of this until I was actually at the airport. When I was told I won't be flying out that day, I went to enquire with my airline stating clearly "I may not be able to fly out, what are my ticket options?" The attendant enquired about my reasoning, I explained "I may not be able to due to possibly not having the correct documents, I'd just like to see what my options are if that's the case" she went ahead and cancelled the flight in order to check my options. As this was done by my airline without my consent, and despite my ticket being non-refundable, they were obliged to partially refund my ticket. If your ticket is non-amendable and non-refundable, it's not guaranteed but you can try this. This was done via the normal process, I just filled out a refund form, explained my situation in the noted and the airline partially refunded me without question.

  2. TRAVEL INSURANCE - I was able to get a full refund on the insurance policy I took out by politely asking them, all they required was proof my flight was cancelled and despite it being a couple days into the policy, refunded me.

  3. THE APPLICATION PROCESS - First of all, a checklist for what you'll need when filling the online application form

  • A reference from in India (Nationals only) with details (name, address, phone number)
  • A reference in the UK
  • A digital 2" x 2" photograph and 2 physical unsigned copies of the same photo (I went in Max Spielman for mine)
  • Your mother and father's full names, and town of birth (As on their passport's)
  • Full address where you'll be staying in India
  • List of countries visited in past 10 years (I included countries I've transited through)
  • Your passport details
  • Check which 'Mission Office' you should apply to (Guide below)

NOTE if you need to leave the application and come back, you can do this by clicking the save for later option, it will give you a reference number then and you MUST note it down, it will NOT be emailed to you or saved; if you leave without noting it down, you cannot access the partially completed application and will need to start again

You'll need to head onto: This website This is a comprehensive, step-by-step guide. CHECK WHICH 'MISSION OFFICE' YOU NEED BEFORE STARTING YOUR APPLICATION. The reason for this is when you start your application form, it will ask you enter a 'Mission Office' The mission offices are confusing but if you look here click on the one closest to you, scroll down and you'll see a list of the various Jurisdictions each office covers. Example I live in Liverpool but my mission office was 'Birmingham' because it covers Merseyside. - You can go to whichever one you get an appointment for but you MUST select the correct mission office when doing your application I initially selected London as my mission offices, then had to fill out a second application later when I got an appointment at Birmingham. Once you've found which office you need, fill out your application form first because you'll need a reference from it for when you book your appointment.

  1. BOOKING AN APPOINTMENT - When you go to book an appointment (Step 3. In the guide linked above) you will find the website crashes often due to 'Max Users' and there are probably no appointments for the next few months. This is normal. When the website crashes, keep refreshing until it loads, it'll do this nearly everytime you click on something. You'll want to check throughout the day but most specifically around 6-8pm this is when they open up new appointments for the next available day. REMEMBER: Have your application reference handy, select the correct Mission Office, location doesn't matter it just has to be under the correct Jurisdiction. Ie. Someone in Manchester could go to 'Birmingham - Birmingham' it doesn't need to be the office closest to you.

  2. ATTENDING THE CENTRE - Go through the checklist of what you'll need. I only needed my passport, application, a printout of my appointment confirmation, 2 unsigned 2" x 2" photographs, and a photocopy of my passport. However, I brought every document I had (Birth certificate, payslip, bank statements, utility bills) just incase as I have seen reports of people going to other countries and needing to come back due to the centre needing further documentation.

It'll cost you around £150 all in (on the website it only says £72 but trust me, you'll need about £150) Expect to be queueing for about 2-3 hours. Everyone who has shared their experience reporter the same, it was the same for me, bring something to entertain you and don't expect to be able to use a toilet or anything. It doesn't matter if you only get in a couple hours after your appointment, VFS have a huge backlog currently and they won't care, you'll be fine.

  1. WAITING FOR THE VISA - Once everything has been done and your application is submitted, it's likely you will get your Visa in 3-5 working days. Officially VFS will tell you 10-15 if you ask them, that was not the case with me or many others, they're fast about it. I opted to collect mine as it was 1 day quicker, if you're in a rush you can do the same, just inform the person when paying for your Visa application you'd like to collect it. They'll give you a receipt with a tracking number, don't worry, it won't be posted to you if you've stated you want to pick it up. They will call you when it's ready to collect and you must collect it between 3.30pm and 4.30pm.

When I checked online to see my Visa status, it said 'under process' I recieved no updates via SMS or Email until it was ready. You'll see it says "Your Visa is Processed and Printed" on the website when it's ready and a few hours afterwards get an automated email from VFS confirming the same. THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOUR VISA HAS BEEN APPROVED. Don't get excited like I did, it just means its been processed, you'll find out whether its approved or denied when you get it in hand. As of writing this I am currently on my way to the centre to find out if it was approved or denied

Note: If you need to ask VFS any questions directly, you can email them at: info.inuk@vfshelpline.com their phones are always full and they usually respond to emails within 24 hours but on occasion its within 48 hours. They're also very helpful

Hopefully this helps and good luck to you all :)



Submitted November 17, 2022 at 07:04AM by nathanaelaldred2 https://ift.tt/cYAK91b

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