PHOTO: AFP
The Indian government launched on Thursday an electronic visa service for Chinese citizens, as promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Beijing last May.
The e-service will allow Chinese nationals to apply and obtain travel visas for 30 days online. People who are not based in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou will now not have to travel for visas. However, e-visa rules only allow visa-seekers to apply at least four days before the planned journey.
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Prime Minister Modi announced in a post on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, “I am delighted to share that the e-Tourist Visa is now available to passport holders of China. I had talked about this during my China visit & the Government of India has fulfilled this promise. This will deepen connectivity between our nations. Come, experience the beauty of Incredible India!"
In a statement, the Indian embassy said, "The implementation of e-tourist visa will enable Chinese nationals to visit India with ease for recreation, sight-seeing, casual visit to meet friends or relatives, short-duration medical treatment or casual business visit".
"This facility will encourage more people to travel to India during 'Visit India Year 2015' and beyond," the statement added.
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The e-visa rules state, "Applicants need to apply a minimum of 4 days in advance of the date of arrival with a window of 30 days. Example: If you are applying on 1st Sept then applicant can select arrival date from 5th Sept to 4th Oct".
Chinese nationals will be allowed to enter through nine airports: Bengaluru, Chennai, Cochin, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Trivandrum. The rules further state that biometric details of the applicants will be compulsorily captured at Immigration on arrival in India.
Currently, 74 countries whose nationals are availing the facility in India include Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Mauritius, Mexico, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Russia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, UAE, Ukraine and the US among other.
This article originally appeared on The Times of India
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