Foreigners' visit to India increases more than 10% in a year on e-visa: Govt
New Delhi: The Home Ministry officially declared a total of 18.78 lakhs foreigners visited India this year, which is more than 10 per cent, within the first ten months on e-visa. This further is four times more than the 4.47 lakhs, registered in 2015 and the highest so far.
"The popularity of e-visa is skyrocketing. The number of foreigners who visited India on e-visa has gone up from 4.47 lakhs in 2015 to 17.00 lakhs in 2017. The figure for 2018 is 18.78 lakhs up to 30th October 2018," a government statement mentioned.
The government further said that the fee collection this year till October 31 was $137,527,270 which was $105,558,496 in 2017.
The Electronic Visa Facility now covers all the countries of the world- foreign nationals of 166 countries can now enjoy this facility at 26 airports and 05 seaports. They do not have to interact with any Indian official until his arrival at the immigration counter now. The Bureau of Immigration (BoI) generally decides within 24-48 hours whether or not to grant an e-visa to a foreigner. Moreover, these e-visas can now be availed three times in one year.
The local Foreigner Regional Registration Office (FRRO) has been empowered now to extend the duration of electronic visas beyond 60 days up to 90 days. "FRROs have been delegated powers for various visa related services like Visa extension, Visa conversion, registration, exit permission, etc. These measures will help in expediting clearances for various visa related services to foreigners and cut their waiting time," the government said.
The top five countries whose nationals availed e-visa services are the UK (2,921,432), the US (2,213,393), China (1,270,224), France (1,071,855) and Germany (89,863).
Furthermore, for the ease of tourism the government has decided to promote cruise tourism immigration facilities have been provided at five major seaports where e-Landing Permits are granted to passengers for their onshore site-seeing. "The condition of biometric enrollment for such tourists arriving at the ports of Mumbai, Cochin, Mormugao, Chennai and New Mangalore has also been suspended till December 2020 to ensure faster immigration clearance so that cruise tourists can spend maximum time on shore," MHA official statement mentioned.
Besides, allowing conversion of any category of visa of a foreign national who is married to an Indian citizen or person of Indian Origin or OCI Cardholder into an Entry Visa at any point of time by the FRRO himself.
Now 30 Andaman and Nicobar islands have been excluded from the RAP regime. "Foreigners will also be allowed to visit 11 uninhabited islands, to be notified by Andaman and Nicobar Islands, only for day trips without any RAP," the statement added.
