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From Times Online

October 25, 2006

How to get a visa for India

The Sunday Times opens its travel clinic on a daily basis to answer your holiday queries. Today: applying for an India visa by post

I am travelling to India in December, and need to get a visa. Living in Cornwall, it’s time-consuming and expensive to get the visa in person from a High Commission in London or Birmingham – can I just get the visa by post? Shirley Deanston, Penzance

A Sunday Times travel expert responds: Get your tongue off those stamps, Shirley – postal applications are a risky business. The Indian High Commission in London (020 7836 8484, www.hcilondon.net) does issue visas by post, and they claim to take a maximum of 15 working days, but even at the best of times, that’s wishful thinking. With Ramadan, Id and Diwali only just passed, and Guru Nanak’s birthday coming up next Sunday, the High Commission will be straining to keep up with the demand for visas.

The good news is that postal applications are still a good option – but through a visa agency, rather than through the High Commission direct. With 30 years of experience, obtaining visas for more than 180 countries, Travcour (020 7223 5295, www.travcour.com) has a client-base that includes adventure travel operators such as Exodus and Explore.

Charging a £30 service fee plus £6 postage (on top of the £30 the High Commission charges for a six-month tourist visa), Travcour will process a visa within five working days, and have your passport/visa back to you the next working day after that. Pay an extra £5, and the return speed is four working days.

Another company providing this service is the Visa Service (08708 900 185, www.visaservice.co.uk). Alternatively, if you are travelling with a tour operator, ask if they have a visa service too.

So whether you live in Pimlico or Penzance, it sure beats joining the large queues at the High Commission, where you’ll probably waste the best part of a day. However early you start queuing, Indian visas are usually returned at a separate window sometime in the afternoon.

Hugo Walker,
Wake up and smell the Chai ! As an Indian national living in the UK , any trip to europe costs me between £40 & £65/ person in visa fees AND a trek to London! Booking visa appointments with the respective embassies is ONLY possible after 15-20 min on £1/min 'helplines' --a rip off !!

sandeep, birmingham, uk

I heard that the Indian authorities had relented and are once again accepting postal applications

Richard, Bexhill, UK

having visited india for the last 11 years, this year we have drawn the line at the size of the rip off, no postal applications any more, how did the indian embassy know in july that a postal strike was imminent? ( see their web site comments)
Â£130 and counting for myself and wife, no thank you, not for a bit of paper and perhaps half an hour of work, no cost involved at all to the embassy,I can only conclude they are out of their minds or the indian economy is booming so much they do not feel the need for large doses of foreign exchange
hugo walker halifax
ps not prepared to spend even more travelling to ldn.

hugo walker, halifx,

You are nolonger able to get your india visa by post from London.Birmingham & Edinburgh have a post code lottery.Living in South Wales I am told by Birmingham you have to grt your visa personally.
Do they want tourists in India.As they are making it almost impossible to get a visa.
Why don@t you do an article on this.

Sue Smith, Newport, uk