India’s Interior Minister rolls out e-visa facility for 43 countries
Saturday, 29 November 2014 00:03
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Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria and Somalia excluded
Reuters: India’s Interior Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday (27) launched electronic visa (e-visa) facility for the 43 countries across the globe to double the contribution of tourism industry in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
In the first phase, Russia, Brazil, Thailand, UAE, Ukraine, Norway, Jordan, and Mauritius, among others, will be getting the e-visa facility. Israel, Palestine, Germany and the US, will also be able to avail the much-awaited facility.
All these 12 countries are currently enjoying the visa on arrival (VOA) facility.
“We have given you information about the 43 countries to which this facility is being provided.
Except the high-risk countries we will try to extend this facility to all the countries across the world,” said Singh.
The countries currently enjoying the visa-on-arrival facility including South Korea, Japan, Finland, Singapore, New Zealand, Indonesia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos will also come under the e-visa facility.
Barring a few countries like Pakistan, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Somalia, all the countries will be covered under the e-visa regime in phases.
“We will tell you about the countries that we further include under this facility. We launched this system because, as of now, the contribution of the tourism industry is only 7%. We want to double its contribution in GDP.”
In order to get an e-visa, one would need to apply on the designated website along with the required fees. They would be granted an electronic version of the visa within 96 hours.
