Getting the Indian Visa

[indigo_rose99]

No part of this was easy.  Evidently there were some nasty bombs planted by people with US passports but who were raised and live in countries near India, so just when India was considering loosening the restrictions on incoming US visitors and business travelers, they instead tightened it.  Happily, some of the documents come with a "why do they want this".

Documents required:
* passport (original)
* copy of Birth certificate, the long form, with both parents' racial heritage
* copy of driver's license or electric or gas bill to ensure that I have a residence in the US
* Letter of invitation from company in India
* Letter of intention from company in US
* 2 color passport photos
* printed travel itinerary to and from India -- the tickets MUST be bought in advance of acquiring the visa
* filled out visa application
* A unknown fee

And the complications...

So I don't HAVE a long birth certificate.  Or if I did, I have never seen it.  I have a short one, which only has my parent's names.  So I took a copy my parent's marriage certificate and copies of the long forms of both of THEIR birth certificates.  *sigh*  So my grandparents have the right kind of racial heritage, it must be OK.  Well, if they go with the intention of the rule rather than the letter.

Passport photos are way more difficult to acquire in Taiwan.  There are places.  But instead of it taking the 15 minutes it took in the US, the woman who took my picture didn't know how to print them.  So we had to come back later after he husband could print them.  When the office seemed to be forever closed.  On the day we drove to Taipei to turn in the forms in person, we sat outside the closed photo place for an hour, waiting for them to open.  *sigh*

I printed a visa application for India from Taiwan, but it was only for Taiwanese or residents.  I filled it out anyway, and then printed the US form and filled THAT out.  *sigh*  So in the Indian office when I handed her the longer US form, she said, "No, you must fill out the Taiwan one." and then my paranoid self pulled out the Taiwan one.  So, extra effort justified.

And can we talk about the money?  The local company and travel contacts had told us that the only way to get a visa to India from Taiwan was
(a) Have a 60 months business visa to work in Taiwan
(b) Fly to Hong Kong and get the visa there.

Ugh.  I don't have a Taiwan visa (30 days, no problem for US visitors).  And I really don't want to buy another ticket and fly to Hong Kong. 

But in the Indian Office, she translated the problem of "Don't have a Taiwan business visa" = pay more money.  Which would be fine if me and my driver had BROUGHT money. 

The fee was about 5500NTD (=just shy of $200 USD).  No credit cards accepted.  No ATM run option available.  No checks accepted.  Must be paid in full NOW, not when I pick up the visa.  My driver/escort and I stood there and emptied our wallets of every bill.  Then every cent.  Yes, literally, we were down to counting coins out onto the counter.  We barely made it.

And then she gave me the massive stack of paperwork back.  She didn't even keep it!  She just kept my passport and the application form.

Comments

[cat-napp.livejournal.com]

Oh! Didn't even keep it--talk about adding insult to injury after you did all that work...I hope she got a paper cut. But as always (or almost always), it all boils down to the money. And *that's* probably why India has so much trouble with foreign travelers--you could probably have had Pakistani parents with dubious ties to terror organizations, but if you'd paid enough extra they'd have let you in anyway. Sigh.

This Indian company better pay you a fortune for your work with them! :-D

[indigo-rose99.livejournal.com]

*laugh* They won't but I'm going to pretend hard that I deserve it. *smile* Maybe they will think I walk on water... That would be nice.