All You Need To Know About The Indian Visa Lifetime and In Person

Updated On: June 06, 2017

One of the essential documents required when traveling between countries is a national visa.  A passport is vital; however, in many cases, without the visa, you will not be able to move from country to country legally.  A US citizen looking to travel to India will require a form of Indian visa to land and explore this culturally rich country, and one of the simplest means of applying for a visa is via the internet.  This article will provide information regarding the e-tourist visa or Indian visa online, the requirements for application, and the processing details for any US citizen traveling to India.

Visas are issued on a regular, in fact, a daily, basis by the Indian Government.  The e-tourist visa is one of the most popular options; however, the nature of the visit is typically the detail that determines the type of visa issued.  The types of visas issued can range from a business visa to a journalist visa; as well as, student visas to research visas and permits.  Typically, the processing time for any Indian visa is a minimum of three days to allow for application processing and issuing of the visa; however, in emergency situations the time limit can be eliminated.  Below is the information on the requirements to obtain an Indian visa.

The visa payment must be completed upon application submission, or the application will not be processed.  An update regarding the status of the payment will be provided for at least two hours after the fee is paid; however, it may be sooner if there are no network delays.  To receive the payment status update as a US citizen, it is recommended that the applicant click on the ‘verify payment’ tab to determine if the visa application fee has been deducted.  Irrespective of whether or not the status has been updated, it is not advised that any further payments be made until at least two hours after the initial payment.

An important fact to take into account is that the payment for visa application does present with a limit of attempts.  In that regards, this also means that no more than three attempts can be made to pay for the e-tourist visa, also known as an eTV visa.  If payment is not finalized under three attempts, the account will be blocked, and the application will be eliminated and declined.  If this occurs, you will be required to apply again to generate a new application identity.  Once the eTV is issued, and you have arrived at the port, biometric details will be captured to match the online application.

While not necessary overall, it is strongly recommended that you consider applying for a regular Indian visa to complement the e-tourist visa.  This traditional Indian visa can be obtained at the Indian embassy or consulate anywhere in the USA.  In order to apply for the Indian Visa, it is necessary to download the required application form and complete the item along with any supporting supplementary documentation.  Once the information is available and forms completed, it is a need to submit the document to the Indian Visa Application Center.