Indian Embassy Website Down!

shuffles03

The website won't load and I'm looking to print off 2 tourist visa applications. Does anyone have a link?

Aurora Borealis

Yup, having the same problem here. Was hoping to get cracking on my visa app. Going 5 weeks today!!!

AIDO Tours

Aurora Borealis wrote: »

Yup, having the same problem here. Was hoping to get cracking on my visa app. Going 5 weeks today!!!

Five weeks? good luck getting a visa in time.

Last year I took a whole week to get through to them by phone to ask them where my "express" visa was. I had paid extra for it. It turned out they hadn't even opened the application. Better than applying in France though. My second visa from the embassy in Paris went missing. They lost my passport. Fortunately they did find it again but I missed my train because of it.

Seriously though, you should get it, my sister gets her visas in a week to ten days all the time. They just don't like me.

blorg

I got an Indian visa in three days from the embassy in Dublin, no problems. They didn't even need my passport until I went in to collect the visa.

Same visa in Tehran took two weeks of back and forth with the embassy. These are minor concerns compared to what you will have to deal with when you get there!

shuffles03

Very easy in the end. Eventually, the site was back up. I collected my visa from the embassy last thursday having only dropped it in the Thursday before. Only 3 and a half weeks to go before we start our RTW trip!! If anyone is in a hurry for an Indian visa, it's an extra 100 quid to get it done pretty much straight away. It only costs 50 normally though.

Aurora Borealis

Good you got sorted Shuffles. Do you know if someone can collect the visa on your behalf? In Sligo but will be in Dublin Thurs so could drop it in but probably not in Dublin again before flying out to pick it up in person. I would really rather not leave my passport in the hands of the postal system for fear it may go astray.. I fly out three weeks Sunday.

shuffles03

Aurora Borealis wrote: »

Do you know if someone can collect the visa on your behalf?

Yeah, someone can collect it on your behalf. My g/f was in the queue with me when we went to drop in the application form but she had to run so I handed it in for her and collected it for her too a week later.

Don't forget:

- Bank draft/postal order
- Glue your photo onto the top right of the form

shuffles03

@Aurora Borealis

How long are you in India for? If you're going to be traveling around a lot, I'd suggest booking trains before you go. We just booked ours on Friday.

We weren't going to but a friend was there a year ago and said it was the best thing she did.

We used a company called indiarail.co.uk. It was really quick and painless. We told them our route and they emailed us an itinerary for the trains. We booked a 30 day pass for €195pp. The last thing you want is to arrive at a train station and find yourself standing for 12 hours on a train.

Our tickets should be with us in a day or two.

Enjoy the trip!

levi

shuffles03 wrote: »

@Aurora Borealis

How long are you in India for? If you're going to be traveling around a lot, I'd suggest booking trains before you go. We just booked ours on Friday.

We weren't going to but a friend was there a year ago and said it was the best thing she did.

We used a company called indiarail.co.uk. It was really quick and painless. We told them our route and they emailed us an itinerary for the trains. We booked a 30 day pass for €195pp. The last thing you want is to arrive at a train station and find yourself standing for 12 hours on a train.

Our tickets should be with us in a day or two.

Enjoy the trip!

DO NOT DO THIS - it is a rip off! Trains in India are very cheap.

You can book all your trains online on www.cleartrip.com. I'm just home from 3 weeks in India yesterday and we booked all our trains with cleartrip and the same the last time we were there. Most journeys by sleeper in 3 A/C are quite cheap. The most you'd pay is maybe €10 per ticket on an overnight train. They email you your ticket once you buy it so you can have everything printed before you go.

If you've any questions about booking PM me - I'm an expert at this stage.

Aurora Borealis

Hey Shuffles are you all packed and ready to go? I'm barely sleeping with excitement ( or else classic insomnia... ). Had to entrust the safe delivery of my passport to the combined efforts of An Post and the Indian Embassy and I was more than pleasantly surprised to have it it back safe and sound in less than a week. Efficiency or what!! Delighted. Getting my jabs next week and then it's up up and away. Levi that site sounds great. How far in advance did you book? For all my excitement my plans are still far from concrete..

shuffles03

Hey Aurora,

Yep, getting pretty excited now. Less than 3 weeks to go. It'll be weird when I'm going to the airport knowing that we won't be back for over a year but can't wait to start. I think it finally sunk in when I was in Boots yesterday buying suncream, deoderant and other basics.

shuffles03

Hey Levi,

Damn! If I had known about cleartrip i would have used them instead. We were just going on friends advice.

levi

I'm sure you'll have a great time anyway Shuffles! It's great to have the trains sorted - your friend is so right - one less thing to worry about.

We booked our trains about 3 or 4 weeks in advance. Some of the trains don't go on sale until 30 days before the date of departure so just check that.

If either of ye need advice on where to go or where to stay just PM me and I'll let you know where we stayed. Spent 6 weeks in India in total so have seen a good bit.

Hope ye have a great holiday - so jealous!

brianoc12345

Do the embassy take your passport while they are processing the visa?

dory

brianoc12345 wrote: »

Do the embassy take your passport while they are processing the visa?

Yes, they do.

blorg

dory wrote: »

Yes, they do.

Not if you request otherwise. My passport was with the Paksitani embassy when I applied in Dublin and they took a photocopy with the application. I had to submit the passport on the morning and pick up in afternoon. This seemed very routine with them when I was there.