Indian Government expands visa on arrival scheme to 11 countries

The Indian Government is expanding its Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVOA) scheme, first introduced in 2010 to the nationals of 11 countries, Japan, Singapore, Philippines, Finland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and Indonesia. The TVOA facility is only available for arrivals at the four metro airports, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

The government has also expanded the purpose of visit from tourism and visiting friends and relatives (VFR) to include business and medical treatment, where trips are sometimes required at short notice.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India, has detailed the guidelines of the TVOA scheme.

Eligibility

• The scheme can be availed by nationals of eleven countries namely Japan, Singapore, Philippines, Finland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and Indonesia.
• The scheme can be availed by foreign nationals visiting India for tourism, medical treatment, casual business or to visit friends/relatives, etc.
• TVOA shall not be granted to foreign nationals who have permanent residence or occupation in India and to holders of Diplomatic/Official passports.
• The foreign nationals must hold a passport with minimum validity of six months and a re-entry permit, if required by the law of his country.
• The foreign national must be a person of assured financial standing.

Validity, extension, and restrictions

• Under the scheme, a foreign national may be granted a single entry visa for maximum period of
• 30 days.
• The TVOA visa cannot be extended or converted in India.
• A visa on arrival can be obtained for a maximum of two visits in a calendar year and there should be a minimum gap of two months between two visits.

Fees

• The visa can be obtained on submission of prescribed application form, one passport size photograph and Indian Rupees equivalent to US Dollars 60.

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Credit card based lounge access at Indian airports

Airport lounges are a critical benchmark, and a key selling point for airlines across the world. Be it for their premium class passengers or their loyal and frequent fliers, airlines spend millions of dollars on these oases of peace, calm, exclusivity and privacy and rightly so. In this day where passengers are treated more like cattle than humans, a little tranquillity helps soothe the nerves.

So where does that leave the mere economy class passenger who is not a jet-setting road warrior with thousands if not millions of air miles under their belt?

To escape the madding crowd, a relatively simple answer is credit cards.

Many credit card issuing companies offer airport lounge access with their premium level credit cards.

Recently American Express unveiled its American Express Platinum Lounge at Terminal 1C at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai. Amex has a similar lounge at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport. Access to both these lounges are free for The Platinum Card (charge card) holders, but holders of Platinum Credit Cards like the Kingfisher Card will be charged an entry fee.

Lounge guests can obtain snacks or a full meal with table service.

Probably the best airport lounge access program in India comes from MasterCard. Typically offered at the Platinum level, MasterCard has teamed up with the Oberoi hotels group to offer lounge access program at five metro airports across India.

International terminals

1. Mumbai Clipper lounge – Terminal 2B
2. Kolkata Clipper lounge
3. Chennai Clipper lounge
4. New Delhi Clipper lounge
5. Bangalore Executive business class lounge

Domestic terminals

1. Mumbai – Clipper lounge at Terminal 1B on the first floor
2. Mumbai – Clipper bar & restaurant at terminal 1A on the mezzanine
3. Mumbai – Clipper lounge bar inside the security hold area of Terminal 1B
4. Kolkata – Top desk restaurant and bar
5. Kolkata – Clipper lounge in the departure area
6. Cochin – Clipper restaurant and bar

Please check with your bank if they are participating in the lounge program, and if your Mastercard is eligible. From research we found Citibank, SBI, HSBC, HDFC and RBS participating.

The lounge access program is only meant for cardholders of MasterCard issued in India. The lounge operator will take an authorisation for Rs. 25, which will be reversed, and will allow access to the lounge only upon successful authorisation of the MasterCard. Also you are allowed only one entry per day per card holder.

ICICI customers are the unlucky lot here. ICICI is deep with VISA, and unfortunately VISA has no lounge access program that we are aware of. For the few MasterCards ICICI does offer, the bank's website does not indicate the bank's participation in the lounge program.

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India outsources consular services in Toronto

With an aim to make visa services faster, hassle-free and efficient, the Indian Consulate in Toronto has decided to outsource its consular services under a new visa regime which will become functional from May 22.

Preeti Saran, Consul General of India, said

"The government has decided to outsource consular services in Canada. VF Services (Canada) would be the nodal agency which would have collection, processing and distributions centres (for visa services) in Toronto and Brampton, The applications would continue to be decided by the Consulate General of India,"

The centres managed by VF Services (Canada) which would become operational from May 22, will receive applications on behalf of Indian Consulate for an additional fee of CDN19.25 for:

• visas, except Diplomatic and Official,
• issue of new passport or renewal of old ones and other passport related services like change of name, etc.
  
• Persons of Indian origin (PIO) cards and Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cards

On the same date the Consulate would stop receiving applications for consular services including visas, passports, PIO and OCI cards.

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