Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh, along with Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (I/C), Tourism & Culture and Minister of State for Civil Aviation, launched the Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVOA) enabled with Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) Scheme at a function here today.The TVoA enabled with ETA Scheme will facilitate nationals of 43 countries to travel to India for tourism for a short stay of 30 days. The countries are Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, Cook Islands, Djibouti, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Finland, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kingdom of Tongo, Laos, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Mexico, Myanmar, New Zealand, Niue, Norway, Oman, Palestine, Papua & New Guinea, Philippines, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea (i.e. South Korea), Republic of Marshall Islands, Republic of Nauru, Republic of Palau, Russia, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Tuvalu, UAE, Ukraine, USA, Vietnam and Vanuatu.
The TVoA enabled with ETA would enable the prospective visitor to apply for an Indian Visa from his/her home country online without visiting the Indian Mission and also pay the visa fee online. Once approved, the applicant will receive an email authorising him/her to travel to India and he/she can travel with a print out of this authorization. On arrival, the visitor has to present the authorisation to the immigration authorities who would then stamp the entry into the country
Launching the scheme, the Union Home Minister said that India has been the centre of attraction for people around the world since times immemorial. He said that travelers since ancient times have been drawn to India to experience its philosophy and spiritualism. Shri Rajnath Singh said that India also has a unique advantage in tourism sector owing to its geographical location and that no other country offers such abundance of diversity in weather conditions. On the occasion, the Union Home Minister assured the tourism industry representatives that he will ensure a safe and secure environment for visiting foreign tourists.
The Minister of State (Independent Charge) Tourism & Culture and Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Dr. Mahesh Sharma said the launch of the TVoA enabled with ETA scheme was a dream cum true for the entire Tourism Industry of India and is bound to positively impact the economy of the country. He said that the government’s objective is to boost tourism to our country and the implementation of the TVoA enabled with ETA scheme will send out a clear message that India is serious in making travel to the country easy. He said that the Tourism Ministry, carrying forward the Prime Minister’s mission, has embarked on the ‘Swachh Bharat, Swachh Samarak’ (Clean India, Clean Monuments) campaign.
The Union Tourism Minister thanked all concerned, including officials from Ministry of Home Affairs, Bureau of Immigration, Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Civil Aviation, National Informatics Center, Airports Authority of India and private Airport Operators for their wholehearted cooperation in the launching of the TVoA enabled with ETA scheme.
This facility is available to Foreigners whose sole objective of visiting India is recreation, sightseeing, short duration medical treatment, casual business visit, casual visit to meet friends or relatives etc. and not valid for any other purpose/activities. This will allow entry into India within 30 days from the date of approval of ETA and will be valid for 30 days stay in India from the date of arrival in India. The TVoA enabled with ETA cannot be availed more than twice in a calendar year. The facility will be available at nine International airports in the country namely Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Goa.
The facility will encourage people to travel with short-term planning, take via routes while travelling to other countries and bring family members while on business visits. The information and instructions for the TVoA enabled with ETA is available on the link below:
https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/tvoa.html
In the recent past the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has taken several steps to ease the Visa regime and facilitate the inflow of foreign tourists into the country. Major initiatives include abolishing the restriction of two months’ gap between two consecutive visits of a foreigner, introduction of Visa fees payment through debit and credit cards, increasing the number of airports for TVoA from four to nine, simplification of Visa form, introduction of local language help for foreigners in filling online visa application form, removing the requirement of filling of Departure (Embarkation) card by outgoing foreigners and Arrival (Disembarkation) card by incoming Indians and the simplification of Embarkation/Disembarkation Cards, besides the introduction of Collective Landing Permit (CLP).
