Oh and Dave, if you're reading- can you pass on your Indian sponsor/referee soon? We need to get these in quickly as I suspect mine is going to be quite a bastard. Check your email. Cheers.
Applying for an Indian tourist visa in Bangkok
Summary of points:
Hi all. Missus Rogue and I recently applied for an Indian tourist visa in Bangkok and as non-thai-residents (NTR) we thought you might like to hear of our experiences.
Firstly, a bit of background: we applied for an Indian visa in London (we're British residents) in early January this year. It was a mildly irritating process of confusion and barely-controlled chaos, but it wasn't too bad. The whole process took about 2.5 hours, discounting the short period where we went across the road for lunh at Pret-a-Manger in Aldwych (we were treating ourselves, as anyone who knows about this rather costly sandwich shop chain will appreciate). Staff were, in the main, friendly and helpful if a little harassed. We left happy and relieved that the process was so relatively easy.
Fast forward nine months.
After a fantastic trip through the subcontinent and a stunner in South-East Asia, we decided that we weren't quite ready to go home yet, and to go back to India for Christmas. Being in Thailand, the best place to do this is obviously Bangkok. Here starts the lesson:
We arrived at the Indian Embassy (Soi Asoke/23, Sukhumvit, Bangkok. Skytrain Station Asoke, Exit three, first left off Sukhumvit, 15-minute walk) only to be handed a sheet of paper telling us the following:
So, we went over to Soi 25 (Skytrain Station Asoke, Exit three, SECOND left off Sukhumvit, right on the corner, stright ahead to the lifts, 15th floor) with our completed application forms from the website to be handed another form to fill out. We were handed the ticket and the forms and went inside to get cracking. inciedntally, they took my Swiss Army Knife, camera, cigarettes, lighter and mobile phone before I went in and refused to give me a receipt for them.
After a not-too-long wait, we handed in our applications, paid our fees (a total of 2,680 baht each, and went off to explore Bangkok. Again. The guy who handled my application was friendly, knowledgeable and professional, but Mrs. Rogue was not so impressed with her consular assistance.
A week later, we arrived at the visa centre before 11 am (as we had been told, although I believe it's now 10 am - check this) and were again frisked by security. This time, they took my lighter, but not Mrs. Rogue's, my bag, but not Mrs. Rogue's Rogue's camera but not mine and didn't bother with my Swiss Army knife.
Call that equal opportunities?
Anyway, we handed in our passports after the usual ticket-wait and bugered off for some lunch. We were told to come back between 15:30 and 17:00 even though the sign on the wall said 15:00 - 16:30. We decided to compromise and got there about ten minutes after three.
Ticket-wait again, then after about 45 minutes when our number was called, we got to the front of the queue to be told that our passports had not arrived yet and there would be a further 50-minute wait.
That turned out to be fairly accurate.
Anyway, we got our passports and our visas and we're going to India on Wednesday. Hurrah! But I don't understand the justification for this. It's supposed to increase efficiency, but you pay 480THB more for the same service. And most of the staff don't know what they're doing.
I hope this saves you a few hours.
RogueII
- Visa applications are no longer handled by the Indian Embassy in Bangkok, but by a private outsourced company based in the Glas Haus building on the corner of Sukhumvit and Soi 25 (Skytrain Station Asoke, Exit three, SECOND left off Sukhumvit, right on the corner, stright ahead to the lifts, 15th floor). Don't bother going to the Embassy - you're wasting your time;
- The cost of this service has increased by 480 Thai baht for non-Thailand residents - the total charge is 2,680 Thai baht;
- The form that you download from the usual websites for this purpose are no longer valid - don't waste your time.
- You will still have to wait five days for your visa;
- The process is, at time of writing, relatively new and some of the staff are replacement barely-trained monkeys who replaced the previous staff because they're cheap.
- Security there is a farcical comedy
Hi all. Missus Rogue and I recently applied for an Indian tourist visa in Bangkok and as non-thai-residents (NTR) we thought you might like to hear of our experiences.
Firstly, a bit of background: we applied for an Indian visa in London (we're British residents) in early January this year. It was a mildly irritating process of confusion and barely-controlled chaos, but it wasn't too bad. The whole process took about 2.5 hours, discounting the short period where we went across the road for lunh at Pret-a-Manger in Aldwych (we were treating ourselves, as anyone who knows about this rather costly sandwich shop chain will appreciate). Staff were, in the main, friendly and helpful if a little harassed. We left happy and relieved that the process was so relatively easy.
Fast forward nine months.
After a fantastic trip through the subcontinent and a stunner in South-East Asia, we decided that we weren't quite ready to go home yet, and to go back to India for Christmas. Being in Thailand, the best place to do this is obviously Bangkok. Here starts the lesson:
We arrived at the Indian Embassy (Soi Asoke/23, Sukhumvit, Bangkok. Skytrain Station Asoke, Exit three, first left off Sukhumvit, 15-minute walk) only to be handed a sheet of paper telling us the following:
Quote:
| In order to bring about greater efficiency in issue of visas, the collection of visa applications and delivery of visas has been outsourced to an Embassy approved service provider, VFS (Thailand) Ltd. The service will be operational from 25 October 2007. With the new arrangements, the Embassy will be able to provide “Next Day Service” to Thai nationals and applicants of other nationalities normally resident in Thailand i.e. the visa will be issued on the following day after an application is received. The maximum time that any visa applicant is expected to spend at the Visa Application Centre would be 20 minutes. All visa applicants are, w.e.f. 25 October 2007, requested to directly contact : India Visa Application Centre No. 1, 15th Floor, Unit 1503, Glas Haus Building, Sukhumvit 25 Sukhumvit Road, Klong Toey-Nua, Wattana, Bangkok 10110 Tel : 02-6652968 Fax : 02-2605829 Website : www.ivac-th.com |
After a not-too-long wait, we handed in our applications, paid our fees (a total of 2,680 baht each, and went off to explore Bangkok. Again. The guy who handled my application was friendly, knowledgeable and professional, but Mrs. Rogue was not so impressed with her consular assistance.
A week later, we arrived at the visa centre before 11 am (as we had been told, although I believe it's now 10 am - check this) and were again frisked by security. This time, they took my lighter, but not Mrs. Rogue's, my bag, but not Mrs. Rogue's Rogue's camera but not mine and didn't bother with my Swiss Army knife.
Call that equal opportunities?
Anyway, we handed in our passports after the usual ticket-wait and bugered off for some lunch. We were told to come back between 15:30 and 17:00 even though the sign on the wall said 15:00 - 16:30. We decided to compromise and got there about ten minutes after three.
Ticket-wait again, then after about 45 minutes when our number was called, we got to the front of the queue to be told that our passports had not arrived yet and there would be a further 50-minute wait.
That turned out to be fairly accurate.
Anyway, we got our passports and our visas and we're going to India on Wednesday. Hurrah! But I don't understand the justification for this. It's supposed to increase efficiency, but you pay 480THB more for the same service. And most of the staff don't know what they're doing.
I hope this saves you a few hours.
RogueII
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