The Government of India has notified 11 more international ports, enabling e-visa holder foreigners to enter India, according to a press release from the Centre on Monday.
The newly added 11 International Ports include nine land ports and two airports. The international ports are intended to further enhances attractiveness and utility of electronic visa. India provides approximately 95% of e-visa applications in less than 72 hours, the release said.
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"Under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leadership of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Government of India has taken a number of significant initiatives over the last few years to liberalize, streamline and simplify visa regime with a view to facilitate the legitimate foreign travelers while simultaneously ramping up the technological infrastructure to enhance internal security," the release stated.
With the latest addition, the total number of international ports enabling entry of e-visa holder foreigners has increased to 88, including 37 airports, 38 seaports and 13 land ports.
The airports are Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bagdogra, Bhogapuram, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Calicut, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Delhi, Gaya, Goa (Dabolim), Goa (Mopa), Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kannur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Madurai, Mangalore, Mumbai, Nagpur, Navi Mumbai, Port Blair, Pune, Surat, Thiruvananthapuram, Trichy, Varanasi, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Bhopal (newly added) and Tirupati (newly added). The seaports are Agatti, Alang, Bedi Bandar, Bhavnagar, Calicut, Chennai, Cochin, Cuddalore, Dahej, Dhamra, Haldia, Hazira, Kakinada, Ennore–Kamarajar, Kandla, Karaikal, Kattupalli, Kolkata, Kollam, Krishnapatnam, Mandvi, Mormugao, Mumbai, Mundra, Nagapattinam, New Mangalore, Nhava Sheva, Paradeep, Pipavav, Porbandar, Port Blair, Sikka, Tuna Tekra, Tuticorin, Vallarpadam, Visakhapatnam, Vizhinjam–Kovalam and Vizhinjam. The landports are Raxaul, Rupaidiha, Darranga, Jogbani, Agartala (newly added), Darranga (newly added), Gede (newly added), Ghojadanga (newly added), Haridaspur (newly added), Jaigaon (newly added), Dawki (newly added), Moreh (newly added) and Attari (Road) (newly added).
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E-Visa
The e-visa facility, with Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA), was introduced in 2014 for nationals of 43 countries. This facility is presently available to nationals of 172 countries. India now issues roughly 78% visas as electronic visas, as per the release.
E-Visa is presently available under following 17 sub-categories:
Sl. No. | Category |
Tourist | |
Mountaineering | |
B-1 B-2 B-3 (Business Visa) B-4 B-5 B-6 | |
M-1 M-2 (Medical Visa) M-3 M-4 | |
S-1 S-2 (Student Visa) | |
Transit | |
X-1 (Miscellaneous) | |
Group Visitor Visa (Cruise) |
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