New Delhi. 30th October,2015. Government of India has decided to revise the e-Tourist Visa (e-TV) fee in four slabs of 0, US $25, US $ 48, and US $60 from November 3, 2015. Presently e-TV application fee is US $ 60 and bank charge is US $ 2 which is uniform for all the countries. The revision of Visa fee has been done on the principle of reciprocity. Bank charges have also been reduced from US $ 2 to 2.5 % of the e-TV fee. There is no bank charge for zero visa fees.
Government had launched e-Tourist Visa scheme on November 27, 2014. The scheme has been extended to 113 Countries/Territories. Sixteen Indian airports have been designated for providing e-Tourist visa service till now. The scheme has been implemented in completely online mode with provision of pre-authorization of visa in the form of ETA (Electronic Travel Authorisation). The visa service under the scheme is being rendered in time-bound manner and decision is communicated to applicant via e-mail within 72 hours of making online application.
Out of 113 Countries/Territories included in e-Tourist Visa scheme US $ 60 has been fixed for 5 Countries/Territories (Mozambique, Russia, Ukraine, United Kingdom and USA).
US $ 48 has been fixed for 86 Countries/Territories (Andorra, Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Cayman Island, Chile, China, China- SAR Hong kong, China- SAR Macau, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Laos, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Malaysia, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Oman, Palestine, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of Macedonia, Saint Christopher and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, Slovenia, Spain, Suriname, Sweden, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Turks & Caicos Island, UAE, Vatican City-Holy See, Venezuela and Vietnam.)
US $ 25 has been fixed for 3 Countries/Territories (Japan, Singapore and Sri Lanka)
Zero Visa fees has been decided for 19 Countries/Territories (Argentina, Cook Islands, Fiji, Jamaica, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue Island, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uruguay, and Vanuatu).
e-Tourist Visa holders can enter India through any of the 16 designated Indian Airports (Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Chennai, Cochin, Delhi, Gaya, Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Tiruchirapalli, Trivandrum & Varanasi).
Besides reciprocating the gestures of other countries it is expected that this revision of fee will also help in boosting tourism in the country. Since the launch of the scheme on November 27, 2014 more than 3,40,000 (Three lakhs forty thousand) e-TVs have been issued till now.
