• March 8, 2022

Indian eVisa for British passport holders remains suspended: UK Pravasi Helpdesk writes to govt officials

By A Staff Reporter

LONDON March 7: The Indian eVisa option for British passport holders looking to travel to India remains suspended till further notice.

In November 2021, a government notification said that all individual UK nationals intending to visit India for tourism purposes will be permitted to enter India on regular paper Tourist Visa with effect from 15 November, 2021. Such travel will be allowed through Vande Bharat Mission, Air Bubble Scheme or by any scheduled/non-scheduled commercial flights allowed by the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation. Foreign nationals will not be allowed to enter India through land routes on e-Tourist Visa/regular paper Tourist Visa.

In summary, British passport holders cannot currently use India’s more streamlined e-visa system valid for the great majority of countries, and must apply for a traditional paper visa instead.

Now, UK Pravasi Helpdesk, a Whatsapp group based in the UK, on behalf of the Keralite community in the UK, has written to government officials in India and to the Indian High Commission in London asking them to intervene to help lift the suspension on the issuance of e-visa to British passport holders looking to travel to India.

Anoop Sasidharan, Chief Co-ordinator of UK Pravasi Help Desk  WhatsaAppgroup based in Bristol wrote to the Indian High Commission and also to Indian government officials in India as below:

Dear

On behalf of the UK Pravasi Help Desk I would like to bring to your attention the inconvenience Indian community in the UK facing on suspension of e-visa for British citizens. As the school holidays are imminent in the UK, an overwhelming majority of the Indian community in the UK would like to visit their homeland and the suspension of the e-visa has been an impediment in booking tickets especially for those who cannot arrange time-off from work to travel to VFS to attend the visa appointment.

Owing to the fact that the current suspension of the e-visa is only for the British citizens, please do consider the situation as restricted travel to India in last two years due to pandemic had an affliction to the Indian community in the UK, lifting the suspension on e-visa would have been more conducive to plan the holiday in good time to avoid the last minute rush and expense. I look forward for the needful action at the earliest by considering the issues raised in the email.

Thanking you, Anoop Sasidharan

UK Pravasi Helpdesk is a Whatsapp group based in the UK, which was formed in early 2020 when the international lockdown was announced following the breakout of the Covid pandemic. Since the formation of the group it was able to provide advice, assistance and guidance to all those who were looking to travel to Kerala due to an emergency.

e-Tourist Visa/Regular Tourist Visa with effect from 15 November

The process of obtaining e-Tourist Visa/Regular Tourist Visa with effect from 15 November, 2021 may be accessed at the following links:

e-Tourist Visa – https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/evisa/tvoa.html. The applicant may note that the High Commission does not process e-visas and any enquiries in this regard will need to be made directly on the e-visa portal.

Regular Tourist Visa can be booked through the High Commission of India, London Link www.indianvisaonline.gov.in