Important
Notices
Urgent
Business Visa Under 'Fast Track System'
"The
Government of India has decided to issue 'Urgent Business Visa' under 'Fast
Track System' to business travellers and business houses to enable them
to travel to
India
at a short notice with effect from15th
March, 2010. Urgent Business Visa is strictly
given to those who are doing business in
India
such as making sales or establishing contacts on behalf of a company outside of
India
or going for urgent business meetings. Applications would be accepted on all
working days (except Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays) from 0830 to
1100 hours only at the following designated India Visa
Application Centres (IVACs) viz. (a) Goswell, 142-148 Goswell Road,
London- EC1V7DU; (b) Birmingham, 20-21 Pemberton Street, Birmingham, B18 6NY;
and (c) Edinburgh, 66 Hanover Buildings, Rose Street, Edinburgh EH2 2NN. Under
this system, 'Urgent Business Visa' will be issued on the same day after 1700
hours subject to eligibility for a normal Business Visa. Each applicant
will have to pay £100/- (pounds One Hundred only) plus applicable
VAT charges in addition to normal Business Visa Fee as urgent
processing fee.
Documents
required for Urgent Indian Business Visa
may be accessed at
http://in.vfsglobal.co.uk
Since
reference are required to be made to concerned authorities in respect of Non-UK
residents for less than 2 years and Pakistani nationals/Pakistani origin
applicants, this facility of same day Urgent Visa is not available to
them. They may apply in normal course.
Suppression
of facts and information will not only result in denial of visa applied for but
will also debar the applicant from applying under this system in future.
Decision of the Consular Officer in the matter shall be final. Visa fee once
tendered is not refundable."
Documents
Required for Urgent Business Visa under Fast Track System
(a)
Passport valid for a minimum of 190 days with at least two blank pages;
b)
Correct Visa Fee;
c)
Two recent identical passport size photographs with light background;
d)
Duly filled application for (all columns of the form are mandatory and must be
filled);
e)
Letter from the parent sponsoring organisation in UK on company's letter head
indicating the nature of the applicant's business, reasons for Urgent Business
Visa, probable duration of stay, validity of visa applied for, places and
organisation to be visited and a guarantee to meet maintenance expenses;
f)
Letter from the sponsoring organization in India on company letterhead
indicating the nature of applicant's business, reasons for Urgent Business
Visa, probable duration of stay, validity of visa applied for, places and
organisation to be visited and a guarantee to meet maintenance expenses;
g)
Two years residence proof (i.e. utility bill-water, gas, electricity, council
tax or Indefinite stay stamp or Agreement papers if staying as tenant] in the
case of applicants applying on their country of Origin Passport.
Tourist Visa advisory
"This
is for information that there should be a gap of at least 2 months between two
visits to
India
on a Tourist Visa.
This stipulation of two months gap does not apply on any other type of visa,
i.e. Business (B) or Entry (X) types of visas. It also does not apply to PIO
and OCI card holders.
In
case of requirement to visit
India
within 2 months, permission should be sought from the High Commission of
India,
London
or the Indian Consulates at
Birmingham
and
Edinburgh
directly without going through VF Services (UK) Ltd. Where permission is
accorded by High Commission of
India
in such cases, registration with the local FRRO/FRO would be required within 14
days of arrival in
India
. Processing
time of the request will be 3-4 working days.
However,
applicants , who after initial
entry into India plan to visit another country and re-enter India before
finally exiting, could be permitted more than one entry, as the case may be
subject to their submission of a detailed itinerary and supporting documents .
For such cases, the tourist visa will be issued for those specific entries only
and not multiple entry.
In
view of the change in the Tourist Visa procedure, applicants who hold a valid 6
months multiple entry visa & wish to travel back to India within 2 months,
Government of India has fixed Pounds Seven (£7/-) as 'Miscellaneous Charge' for
according permission to re-enter India within Two months of last exit. The
re-entry permit will be granted on discretionary basis only for urgent travel
requirements.
Tourist
Visa Re-entry request form can be downloaded by clicking on the following link:
http://in.vfsglobal.co.uk/visa-forms.aspx."
Visa
applications of persons of
Pakistan
origin
"With
effect from January 1, 2010, visa applications of British Passport holders of
Pakistani origin and Pakistani nationals have to be submitted at the Indian
Visa Application Centre (IVAC),
Birmingham
and at Indian Visa Application Centre (IVAC),
Edinburgh
according to their residences falling under the respective jurisdiction. For
jurisdiction please refer to section 'Jurisdiction' on our website. For rest of
the places in
UK
applications can be made at IVACs,
London
.
All applicants of
Pakistan
origin who hold dual nationality must apply for an Indian Visa on their
Pakistani passport. Those who have either renounced Pakistani nationality or
cancelled their Pakistani passport would need to submit documentary proof in
this regard.
Processing time of applications received from persons of Pakistani origin will
be 7-8 weeks excluding time in transit.
Processing time for applications from Pakistani nationals/those holding dual
nationality will be substantially longer."
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Renunciation/Surrender
of Indian Passports
Under
Indian law, Persons of Indian Origin, who have acquired foreign citizenship,
are required to surrender their Indian passports to the nearest Indian
Mission/Post immediately after acquisition of foreign citizenship. The
Government of
India
has fixed fee for renouncing the Indian Citizenship/surrender of Indian
passport at Rs.7,000/- (£90 at the current Official Rate of Exchange).
The
Indian Citizenship Act, 1955, does not allow dual citizenship. Holding Indian
passport/acquiring Indian passport/travelling on Indian passport after
acquisition of foreign citizenship constitutes an offence under the Indian
Passport Act, 1967, and attracts penalties. The Government of India has
prescribed imposition of penalty on a graded scale, depending on number of
trips made on Indian passport after acquiring foreign nationality, for the
violation of Passport Rules ranging from a minimum of Rs. 10,000/- (£125 at the
current Official Rate of Exchange) to a maximum of Rs. 50,000/- (£625 at the
current Official Rate of Exchange).
In
view of these provisions, Persons of Indian Origin, intending to apply for
OCI/PIO Cards, should surrender their Indian passports and then apply for these
services. In case they do not have the Indian passports in their possession for
any reason (loss/misplacement/submission to Home Office long time back, etc.),
they are required to furnish duly notarised affidavit in this regard. If the
Indian passport is still valid but has been misplaced/lost, then Police report
should be submitted additionally (to rule out any misuse).
Persons
of Indian Origin applying for Indian visa for the first time after acquiring
foreign nationality are required to first renounce/surrender their Indian
passports. All applications for renunciation/surrender of Indian passports are
to be made at the High Commission of
India,
London
or respective Indian Consulates at
Birmingham
and
Edinburgh
. .
For
those Persons of Indian origin who have travelled to
India
before need to provide copy of their earlier Indian Visa/Old
UK
passport (if applying on new
UK
Passport) issued by the High Commission.
"Applications can be made at the High Commission of
India
in
London
, tokens will be issued to all applicants without limit from 0830
hrs to 1200 hrs at the token counter of the High Commission. For an application
form for surrender of Indian Citizenship/Passport, please follow the link
below:
http://www.hcilondon.in/applicationform.pdf
********************************************
Introduction
of "Tourist Visa-on-Arrival"
In
order to facilitate bonafide foreign tourists who plan their tours at a short
notice, the Government of India has decided to introduce "Tourist
Visa-on-Arrival" for a period of one year with immediate effect for citizen of
five countries viz. Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore.
2.
Citizens of these five countries can get "Tourist Visa-on-Arriva" with a
maximum validity of 30 days with Single Entry facility from the Immigration
Officer at
Delhi
, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata only. The said "Tourist
Visa-on-Arrival can neither be extended nor converted to any other kind of visa
during his/her stay in India except in certain exceptional circumstances.
3.
A Tourist Visa-on-Arrival shall be granted to citizens of
Finland,
Japan,
Luxembourg,
New Zealand
or
Singapore
and:
(i)
Whose sole objective of visiting
India
is recreation, sightseeing, casual visit to meet friends or relatives etc and
no other purpose/activity;
(ii)
Who does not have a residence or occupation in
India
;
(iii)
Who holds a passport with minimum six months validity, and a re-entry permit if
that is required under the law of the country of nationality of the applicant;
(iv) Who
is a person of assured financial standing (the production of a return ticket
and availability of sufficient money to spend during his/her stay in
India
may be considered sufficient for this purpose).
(v)
Who is not a person-non-grata to the Government of
India;
uk
(vi)
Who is not considered an undesirable person and is not the subject of black
list or any warning circular or other restrictive list;
(vii)
This facility shall not be available to the citizens of above-named countries
if the person or either of his/her parents or grand parents (paternal or
maternal) was born in, and was permanently resident in Pakistan.
Such persons can visit
India
after obtaining appropriate visa from the Indian Mission/Post concerned.
Fee
for Tourist Visa-on-Arrival
A
fee of US$60/- or an equivalent amount in Indian rupees per passenger
(including children) will be charged from each foreigner for the grant of
Tourist Visa-on-Arrival.
Repeat
Visit
Tourist
Visa-on-Arrival shall be allowed for a maximum of two times in a calendar year
to a foreigner with a minimum gap of two months between each visit.
******************************************
Postal
Service
IVAC
can return your visa by using DX Secure, the UK 's leading independent courier
and Mail Company for a nominal charge of £7.40. DX Secure
www.thedx.co.uk offer a trusted, reliable and
secure service and it is not affected by any Royal Mail strike.
-
Centralised
Postal processing Centre.
With Effect from the 22nd of April 2009, all postal applications will be
processed at our centralised Postal Unit at Hayes. For details, please click on
the following link.
-
With effect from the 20th of July 2009,
India
Visa application centre in Hayes will be using DX secure mail services for
returning documents to the applicants who wish to buy the postal envelope from
us. This will offer our applicants value added services like SMS text upon
dispatch to confirm delivery date, Mandatory signature upon delivery, secured
network and Saturday delivery.
This service
will be in due course offered at all
India
Visa application centres in the
U.K.
by the end of this month.
*************************************
Travel
Advisory
In
view of the spread of the Swine Influenza A(H1N1) all passengers travelling to
India will be screened at the International Airports in India on their arrival
and required to carry the declaration form (Health Card) at the Immigration.
This may also involve quarantine and even hospitalisation, if detected, with
any symptoms connected with the flu.
Kindly print the Health screening card from the link below, complete and
sign it before travelling to
India
.
Health
screening Card
front.pdf
back.pdf
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Visa
Information Services / Processing Time
Call centre number has been changed to
09057570045.
Email Help Desk:
info.inuk@vfshelpline.com
Processing
time for
UK
Nationals is a minimum of 2-3 working days from the date of submission at any
of our visa application centres. (The same can vary from case to case.)
