India Extends E-Tourist Visa Facility to More 31 Countries

India extended E-Tourist Visa, earlier known as Visa-on-Arrival, to more 31 countries on 1 May, 2015. The Home Ministry of India made an announcement and also released a list of countries that would be eligible for the E-tourist visa now.

The nationals of the following countries can now visit India by obtaining an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) online. They can get the visa by showing ETA at the port-of-entry. The countries include:

Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Bolivia, Belize, Cayman Island, Canada, Costa Rica,  Chile, Dominica, Dominic and Republic, El Salvador, Ecuador, Estonia, France, Grenada, Georgia, HolySee (Vatican), Haiti, Honduras, Latvia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, Macedonia, Montserrat,  Nicaragua, Paraguay, Seychelles,  and St Kitts & Nevis.

This time around India was also to include neighboring China to the list of E-visa beneficiaries, but did not. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's China visit, which is schedule on May 14, might change India's stand on whether to offer E-visa to Chinese nationals or not.

So far, between November 2014 and May 2015, Indian government has extended E-tourist visa facility to more than 80 countries. It further aims to offer the facility to more countries in the coming months taking the total count to more than 150 countries. And since the start of E-tourist visa service, India has recorded a jump in tourist arrivals by more than 200%.

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