In a bid to make India a more tourist-friendly destination, decks are being cleared to extend visa-on-arrival facility to 40 more countries, simplifying online visa facility and attracting senior citizens from abroad.
A high-level committee having representatives from the Home Ministry, Tourism Ministry, Foreign Ministry, Planning Commission and the National Security Adviser has decided to take the initiative forward.
The countries for which visa-on-arrival facility would be extended include the US, the UK, Canada, Brazil, Australia, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, Germany, France, Italy, Swedan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, Belgium, Austria, Denmark, Poland, Norway and Ireland.
“Now Home Ministry will take necessary action. It is an administrative decision which will soon see light of the day,” Planning Minister Rajeev Shukla said.
According to the minister, besides increasing the ambit of Tourist Visa-on-Arrival (TVoA) facility, the panel has decided to allow visa under TVoA category to delegates visiting India for meetings, conferences and exhibitions to promote business travel.
Shukla further said that it had also been decided to simplify and standardise the visa application form and photograph for the same. It has been proposed that the column for disclosing religion in the visa application form be deleted.
The panel has also called for initiating Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) facility to all countries except the ones in Priority Reference (PR) list.
The minister said that India would also take initiatives to facilitate tourists or couples whose age is 60 years or above from all countries except PR list (nations) to tap the pensioners market.
The panel was unanimous that the issue of TVoA and ETA facility to China may be taken up bilaterally and decided on the basis of reciprocity.
Under TVoA system, India has an agreement with 11 countries at present - Japan, Finland, Singapore, Indonesia, Laos, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines and Myanmar. At present, the TVoA facility is available at international airports of Delhi, Chennai, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram.