India allows 5-year visas for Thais

India has approved five-year multiple entry tourist and business visas to Thai nationals with continuous stay of 90 days per visit, the Indian embassy said yesterday.

Approved applicants using the express visa service will receive it the next working day, the embassy statement said.

Separate immigration counters will be provided at airports for holders of medical visas. The service will initially be available at international airports, such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

For e-visas, the duration of stay in India has been increased from 30 days to 60 days, and the single-entry visa has been changed to a double entry e-tourist visa. A 60-day double entry e-business visa with stays of 60 days each trip has also been introduced.

Before the change, tourist visas for Thai nationals could only be issued for periods of six months and one year, and business visa could last for only up to one year.

Different rates of fees applied for each type and single, double and multiple entries ranged from 1,700-8,200 baht.

Around 100,000 tourist visas and around 10,000 business visas were issued to Thais by India last year.

Indian tourists coming to Thailand, on the other hand, can apply for a 15-day visa on arrival for a fee of 2,000 baht. More than 1 million Indians visited Thailand last year.

“The government of India wants to make the Indian visa the easiest one in the world. We want more Thai tourists to visit India, especially Bodhgaya and other places on the Buddhist circuit,” said Kuljeet Singh Arora, the Indian cultural attaché in Bangkok.