Indian Visa

Official website

WARNING: Beware of unauthentic/fraudulent websites. Make sure you follow the official government website for Visa application and related information.

All foreigners visiting India need a valid passport and Indian visa. Only categories exempted under bilateral arrangements may not need a visa. For persons of Indian origin (all categories), the OCI card is mandatory.

Visa applications can be done via two modes, e-Visa and regular visa. e-Visa will be easier to apply for and faster (3-4 working days).

Citizens of 166 countries are eligible for e-Visa, the complete list of can be found on the e-Visa portal. Those who are ineligible for e-Visa should apply for regular visa with the local Indian Mission/Embassy in their country.

India provides a “Visa on Arrival” only to the nationals of Japan, South Korea and UAE (only for such UAE nationals who had earlier obtained a visa for India) and are available at selected Airports (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad) only. For more info, please visit here.

Those travelling to India are also advised to go through instructions available on the official website of Bureau of Immigration.

If you are organizing an international conference in India, you may find [notes from debconf23 visa team](https://debian.org.in/post/learnings-from-debconf23/) useful.

Applying for e-visa:

PLEASE NOTE: Ensure that you read all the instructions and FAQs in the official website properly before applying.

Official website:

Notes

See Conference Visa below.
e-Visa is non-extendable, non-convertible & not valid for visiting Protected/Restricted and Cantonment Areas. If you intend to visit Protected/Restricted/Cantonment areas, you would require prior permission from the Civil Authority.
For e-Tourist and e-Business visas, Applicants of the eligible countries/territories may apply online minimum 4 days in advance of the date of arrival.
Persons holding eVisa will be allowed to enter into India only through the 29 designated international airports namely Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bagdogra, Bengaluru, Bhubaneshwar, Calicut, Chennai, Chandigarh, Cochin, Coimbatore, Delhi, Gaya, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kannur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Madurai, Mangalore, Mumbai, Nagpur, Port Blair, Pune, Tiruchirapalli, Trivandrum, Varanasi & Visakhapatnam, and 5 designated seaports (i.e. Cochin, Goa, Mangalore, Chennai and Mumbai seaports). They may depart from any of the Indian Immigration Check Posts (I*****s).
e-Visa fee is Country/Territory specific. To know the fee applicable for e-Tourist Visa on your Country/Territory please click here and for other e-Visa click here.

The e-Visa fee payment may take up to 2 hours to appear to be due to technical reasons/network delays. Before re-applying, the applicants are requested to wait for 2 hours for payment status updating, after final submission of the application form and payment of the fee.

Once your Electronic Visa Authorisation (ETA) has been granted, you should print it by clicking in Check your Visa Status in the eVisa website. If you applied for a conference visa, it is also recommended to bring along a printed copy of the Invitation letter from the organizer.

Applying for Regular/Paper visa through Indian Mission/Post

PLEASE NOTE: Ensure that you read all the instructions and FAQs in the official website properly before applying.

Official website:

Notes

See Conference Visa below.
Applicants must fill and submit application form online. After online submission, applicant must print the completed application form and sign and submit the physical copy along with the supporting documents and the Passport to the concerned Indian Visa Application Center (IVAC) or directly at the Indian Mission on the scheduled appointed date.
The applicants are requested to visit website of the Indian Mission concerned for detailed information about Indian visa.
The fee depends upon the type of applied for and its duration of visa.
Upon receipt of the Visa Application through Indian Visa Application Center or directly, the Indian Mission/ Post requires a minimum of three working days to process the case and issue a visa depending upon the nationality and excluding special cases.

Conference visa

We suggest you apply for the e-Conference visa instead of the tourist visa for your visit to India for DebConf23. Those applying for an e-Conference visa can also do some tourism before and after the event.

The e-Conference visa is only valid for 30 days. If you plan on staying for more than 30 days in India for tourism, you will have to apply for regular conference visa which can combine tourism for up to 6 months along with attending the conference.

To apply for either e-Conference visa or regular conference visa, you will require invitation from the organizer and Political clearance from Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India. Please contact [email protected] (PGP: 7E78 2DB5 3C92 93F9 B5FE 9DD9 A193 CADE 502F B448) for both these documents.

We can provide you a visa invitation letter once your registration is confirmed. We will have to mention who will pay for your expenses in the invitation letter, so if you are applying for a bursary we will have to wait for bursary approval before we can send you the visa invitation. If your expenses are covered by someone else, like your employer, then mention that in your email, so we can include that information in your invite letter.

For us to send visa invitation letters, please email us your:

Full name, as it appears on your passport
Passport number
Date of birth
Place (country) of birth
Nationality
Home Address
Photos of page(s) of your passport with personal information, personal photograph and passport number.

The invitation letter will be provided by Infopark Kochi. The information above, including the passport scans, will be shared with them.

The visa invitation letter process will take us at least three weeks, please remember to request as early as possible. We have to submit the list of participants who need visa to Ministry of External Affairs and get Political clearance from Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India (this can take up to two weeks). Getting signature from Infopark in the invitation letter also takes time (this is processed in multiple batches).

Note: We will be able to provide you invitation letter only if you send passport details by 1st August.

For more information and support relating to visa, please email the visa team visa[at]debconf[dot]org.

Completing the eConference visa form

The form is quite long, expect to spend at least half an hour on it.

Some tips to help you navigate the visa form:

If the form gets stuck, try closing it and resuming the application.
If you need to go back, you can save and exit, then resume from the first page by using your temporary application ID.
Visible identification marks: refers to tattoos and visible scarring. You can put “NA” in the field.
Designation refers to a job title.
Prepare a square photograph, interface will make you crop out a square from it.

Conference Details:

Name of the conference: DebConf
Start Date: 03/09/2023
End Date: 17/09/2023
Address: Infopark Park Centre, Kakkanad, Kochi
State: Kerala
District: Ernakulam
Pincode: 682042
Name of Organizer: InfoPark Kochi
Address: Infopark Park Centre, Kakkanad, 682042, Kerala
Phone No: +91 484 2415217
Email Id: [email protected]

Reference:

The visa team will provide the contact address of a local team member to be used as a reference along with invitation letter and political clearance from MEA.

Documents:

Invitation from organizer: Will be provided by the visa team.
Political clearance from MEA: Will be provided by the visa team.