As I mentioned in my last post, I was in Nepal for two weeks. What I didn't mention was the goal was to go to India.
About a month or two before leaving we checked all the information. We called, we read blogs, we visited government sites and all told us that we could get our Indian visas at the India Embassy in Nepal within about 5 days. Ok, no problem. We show up and find out that everything has changed.
From what I understand a couple years ago an American-Pakistani man took advantage of a tourist visa and did some bombing in Mumbai, India. Then India tightened restrictions on all tourist visas. Last year they loosened some of the restrictions (one being the 2 month wait period in between visits), except for some nationalities (Afghanistan, China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan, Bangladesh). Rather than taking 5 days, it actually takes 7 working days. On top of that you have to fill out the application online, which more often than not the website is being funky and you have to fill it out the day before going to the embassy AND on top of ALL of that, they are very picky. So we went back three days in a row before we actually got it right and could finally submit our applications.
But as Americans we had it easy, we ran into a Chinese guy who had been waiting there for 50 days! He told us Nepal was a terrible place to go for Indian visas, especially for Chinese, the best place to go was Bangkok, Thailand. The one hold-up is, if you are a carrier of the new Chinese passport, then you are only able to get visas within China because of the border disputes between China and India.
In the end, we didn't go to India because one girl wasn't able to get her visa. It was a bummer, but Nepal is great. In a future post I will write more about Nepali culture.
Some more stories on the Indian Visa situation:
About a month or two before leaving we checked all the information. We called, we read blogs, we visited government sites and all told us that we could get our Indian visas at the India Embassy in Nepal within about 5 days. Ok, no problem. We show up and find out that everything has changed.
From what I understand a couple years ago an American-Pakistani man took advantage of a tourist visa and did some bombing in Mumbai, India. Then India tightened restrictions on all tourist visas. Last year they loosened some of the restrictions (one being the 2 month wait period in between visits), except for some nationalities (Afghanistan, China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan, Bangladesh). Rather than taking 5 days, it actually takes 7 working days. On top of that you have to fill out the application online, which more often than not the website is being funky and you have to fill it out the day before going to the embassy AND on top of ALL of that, they are very picky. So we went back three days in a row before we actually got it right and could finally submit our applications.
But as Americans we had it easy, we ran into a Chinese guy who had been waiting there for 50 days! He told us Nepal was a terrible place to go for Indian visas, especially for Chinese, the best place to go was Bangkok, Thailand. The one hold-up is, if you are a carrier of the new Chinese passport, then you are only able to get visas within China because of the border disputes between China and India.
In the end, we didn't go to India because one girl wasn't able to get her visa. It was a bummer, but Nepal is great. In a future post I will write more about Nepali culture.
Some more stories on the Indian Visa situation:
- http://www.eturbonews.com/32588/india-relaxes-tourist-visa-regulations
- http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/01/24/david-headley-gets-35-years-for-role-in-mumbai-terror-attacks/
- http://tribune.com.pk/story/435573/visa-to-india/
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