To visit India, any foreign national except those of Nepal and Bhutan need to obtain Visa. And currently on a trial basis India is trying out Visa on Arrival for the tourists from Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zeland and Singapore
Visitors travelling via India and are staying in India for less than 72 hours can get a Transit Visa. Stay for more than 72 hours needs a Tourist Visa. Tourist Visas are issued for a period of six months based on the nationality. Most of the visas are multiple entry visas. For citizens of US, 10 years multiple entry visas are given. For tourists from France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Spain, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland,New Zeland, Japan, South Korea, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Vietnam 5 year visas are given.
Though visas are issued for 5 or 10 years, the tourists are not allowed to stay more than 6 months for US citizens and 3 months for the 5 year visa countries. Indian visas are available to foreign national under the following categories too.
Business Visas,
Employment Visas,
Research Visas,
Student Visas,
Journalist Visas
Yoga Visas too.
Cost of Indian Tourist Visa:
Indian tourist visa cost varies from country to country as per the aggrement between government of different nations. Visa from US for 6 months one have to pay $70 and from United Kingdom it will be 30 pounds and from Australia it will be around $90. Countries like Japan, South Africa, Jamaica and Mangolia have agreements with India to allow their visitors to pay less for Indian Visa.
How to apply for Indian Visa
To apply for Indian tourist visa tourists have to obtain visa applications from the Indian Embassy in your country or can complete an on-line application from on the website of one of the visa processing agencies.
Along with the application form one have to submit valid passport (which is valid for atleast 6 months) and a recent passport site photo along with a detailed itenery. The passport should have atleast two blank pages. For tourist of some countries proof of residence need to be added. Though visas have space for Indian references, for tourist visas such references are not needed.