Thaindian News

New Delhi, Jan 1 (IANS) India Friday started tourist visa-on-arrival facility for five countries on an “experimental basis” for a period of one year, the Ministry of External Affairs said.
“The said ‘tourist visa-on-arrival’ with a maximum validity of 30 days with single entry facility shall be granted by the immigration officers at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata airports to start with,” said a press statement issued by the ministry.

It said that the tourist visa-on-arrival is to “facilitate bonafide foreign tourists who plan their tours at a short notice”. The five countries chosen for the “experiment” are Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore.

“The grant of a ‘tourist visa-on-arrival’ shall be regulated as per the guidelines prescribed in the visa manual,” said the press release

It added that the scheme had been launched from Jan 1, 2010.

The decision to start visa-on-arrival comes after much criticism over India tightening its visa guidelines.

The Ministry of Home Affairs had in November announced new guidelines for holders of multiple-entry long-term tourist visas, according to which there had to be a mandatory two-month gap between any two visits to India.

There had been protests from some foreign governments, notably the US and Britain, claiming that this rule was being implemented arbitrarily.

The Ministry of External Affairs later said that Indian missions and immigration officers have been told to be more flexible in implementing this rule, if the tourists can show documents of further travel, like air tickets.