E-visas restored for British nationals travelling to India

‘BIG NEWS’: Service makes it easier for tourists visiting India THE Indian High Commission in London on Monday (5) announced the reinstating of the electronic visa (e-visa) for UK travellers.

Vikram Doraiswami, the Indian high commissioner to the UK, said the service will be available “forthwith”. Indian mission officials in London confirmed that travellers can start applying for e-visas from this week.

“The big news today is that we are rolling out e-visas once again,” Doraiswami announced in a video posted on Twitter.

“This should enable friends from the UK to travel far more easily to India.”

Electronic visas (e-visas) were among the issues discussed between India’s prime minister Narendra Modi and his UK counterpart, Rishi Sunak, during their meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Indonesia last month.

The long-awaited move follows several measures to boost Indian visa processing facilities, including establishing an Indian visa centre in central London and Visa at Your Doorstep (VAYD) service, to address the high post-pandemic travel demand from the UK to India.

The new India Visa Application Centre (IVAC) at Marylebone is operated by VFS Global, the outsourcing and technology services provider for governments and diplomatic missions.

It has also introduced a more streamlined process for those travelling as a group.

The new centre is the third India visa centre in London, with VFS Global operating a network of 10 IVACs across the UK – in Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, central London, Hounslow, Leicester, and Manchester.

VFS Global said it had released more appointments as London and Birmingham have started receiving applications on Saturdays and weekday afternoons.

Since March this year, VFS Global has also partnered with the High Commission of India in London and its consulates around the UK to set up weekend consular camps across the country.