PRIYANAIR

With more and more people

travelling abroad for studies,
work and leisure, smooth and
quick issuance of visas has
become crucial. But we have all
heard of stories of those travel-
ling abroad, especially to the
US, being refused one for rea-
sons beyond their control.
In Union Budget 2014-15,
finance minister Arun Jaitely
announced that the facility of
electronic travel authorisation
(e-visa) would be introduced in
a phased manner at nine air-
ports in India. This would fur-
ther facilitate the visa-on-
arrival facility, the FM said.
Recently, the French gov-
ernment said it would issue
visa to Indian travellers within
48 hours from 2015. At the
moment, it takes about 15 days.
TheUKandCanadahaveintro-
ducedsimilar initiatives tosim-
plifyprocessing. Sincelast year,
Indian citizens have a visa free
or onarrival across 59countries
or territories.
Ease in visa documentation
and processing time will pro-
vide more opportunities for
Indians who are looking for
weekend getaways abroad and
a long-term visa will encourage
repeat travel, considering that
Indians are always looking for
value, says Mahesh Iyer, chief
operating officer (visa and for-
eign exchange) at Thomas
Cook (India).
Let us takealookat howdif-
ficult is it to get a visa while
travelling abroad and what is
required for getting one.
Kindsofvisas
Most countries offer student,
tourist, visitor, working,
dependent (for spouse or chil-
dren) and business visas. There
areother kinds of visas depend-
ing on your profession, such as
sportsman, journalist, crew,
seaman, etc.
The US has different kinds
of visas. The type of visa you
will need would depend on the
purpose of your travel. These
include H1 visa for profession-
al jobs; B1 visa for temporary
visit for business purpose; B2
for tourists; K1 visa for the
fianc or fiance of a US citi-
zen to enter the US; L1 visa for
intra-company transferee
(executive, managerial, and
specialised personnel contin-
uing employment with inter-
national firm or corporation);
O1 for persons with extraordi-
nary ability in the sciences,
arts, education, business, or
athletics; P1 for internationally-
recognised athlete or member
of an internationally-recog-
nisedentertainment groupand
Q1 visa is for participants in an
international cultural exchange
programme.
Students pursuing full-time
academic courses in bachelor,
master or doctoral-level pro-
grammes must obtain F1 visas,
while non-academic (vocation-
al) students are issued M1 visa
(spouses of M1 visa could get
M2 visa). For participants in
exchange or trainee pro-
grammes such as university
professors, researchers, post-
doctoral fellows and trainees,
there is the J1 visa. H and L
visas require approved peti-
tions from the US Department
of Homeland Security before a
visa interview can
be scheduled.
Thespousesof L1
visaholders areissu-
ed an L2 visa. L2 visa
holders may work in
the US but must
have employment
authorisation from
the Department of
Homeland Security.
Timetakenfor
issuingvisa
The time taken for
processing visa dif-
fers from country to
country. The official
maximum process-
ing time for a French
visa is 15 days.
France comes under A
Schengen Area. A Schengen
visahastobeobtainedfromthe
respective consulate of the
country where your main pur-
pose of travel lies. In case of
travel to multiple Schengen
countries, youmust applytothe
embassywhereyouwill bestay-
ing for the maximum number
of days. A Schengen
visa can take any-
where from two to
10 days, depending
on which country's
consulate or
embassy you are
applying to.
Another initia-
tive is the recently-
launched British
Irish Visa Scheme
between Ireland
and the UK, which
will start around
September-October
with Indian and
China, says Karan
Anand, head (rela-
tionships) at Cox &
Kings. The British
Irish Visa Scheme will allow for
travel to and around the
Common Travel Area on a sin-
gle visa.
Typically, the UK takes 15
working days for visa process-
ing; Australia takes 15 working
days; Switzerland- fiveworking
days for Mumbai andsixtosev-
en working days for satellite
visa application centres. For
the United Arab Emirates, the
tourist visa can be obtained
online through Emirates and
Etihad airlines and it takes
approximately 72 hours after
application.
Canada recently unveiled
the CAN+ programme (a visa
programme) in India, under
which visas will be issued with-
in five days and an approval
rate of 95 per cent. The pro-
gramme is open to Indian
nationals who have travelled to
Canada or USA in the past 10
years. Currently, Hong Kong,
Thailand, Sri Lanka (tourist
visa only), Malaysia, Kenya,
Indonesia, Mauritius,
Seychelles and Fiji offer visa on
arrival.
Whyyourvisacouldget
rejected
According to Anand of Cox &
Kings, your visa could get
rejected if the documents are
incomplete and if you have not
disclosed information truth-
fully. Sometimes, it couldbefor
a simple reason such as pass-
port expiry.
Check the expiration date on
your passport carefully before
applying for a visa. Entry into
most countries for a short-term
tourism or business trip
requires that your passport be
valid for at least three months
beyond your intended date of
departure. Werecommendthat
your passport have at least six
months of validity whenever
you travel abroad to avoid
unintendedtravel disruptions,
says Anand.
Travellers must also have a
justifiable reason for their
travel, proof of sufficient
resources to support them-
selves during the stay, and
compliance with any other
entry requirements for each
country they will visit or tran-
sit. The customer profile, over-
stay in any countries, individ-
ual travellers less than 30
years of age or potential immi-
grants according to the assess-
ment of the consular authori-
ties are some of the other
reasons why your visa could
get rejected, says Iyer.
Documentsrequired
While it varies from country to
country, the basic requirement
of documentation includes
passports, covering letters
(from employers), salary slips,
bank statements with income-
tax return forms, invitation let-
ter, air tickets, hotel confirma-
tion and insurance.
Visafees
The visa fee can vary from no
charge to ~63,000 for a busi-
ness or tourist visa. Visa for
work-permit might cost much
more. For Australia, the
charges couldstart from~7,700;
~9,616 for the US; ~8,715 for the
UK; ~5,100 for Switzerland;
~4,900 for Germany; ~4,086
Singapore; and upwards of
~1,000 for Malaysia.
No visa if no valid reason to travel
Many countries are taking steps to ease processing. However, travellers should have a justifiable reason for the visit and their finances should be in order
In the Union
Budget 2014-15,
Finance Minister
Arun Jaitely has
announced that
the facility of
e-visa would be
introduced in a
phased manner
at nine airports
in India