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India Moving to Online Visa Applications

July 25, 2011— Consular posts for India around the world are currently implementing an online visa application system, available at http://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/. The new system requires applicants to complete the form online, print once it is completed, and file it with supporting documents and photos at a Visa Application Center (IVAC).

Consulates in Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Singapore, and the U.K. are already using the new online process. Posts in Ottawa and Toronto, Canada will roll out the new system today, with Vancouver starting August 1. Countries also rolling out the new system in the coming weeks include Bangladesh, Belgium, Finland, New Zealand, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and Switzerland. After online implementation is active, paper visa applications will no longer be accepted at those consular posts.

As Indian consular posts will implement the online system at different times, foreign nationals should consider to which posts they are required to submit their visa applications. In general, foreign nationals may apply for B business visas to the post with jurisdiction over their place of residence, though this policy varies by post with some requiring applicants to have two years of residence within their jurisdiction. Foreign nationals applying for E employment visas, however, must do so to the post in their country of citizenship, rather than their country of current domicile, unless they have resided there as a permanent resident for at least two years.

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