AMN
India has decided to extend the facility of e-Tourist Visa to 36 more countries from August 15. The new countries being included in the scheme are Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Belgium, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, East Timor, Guatemala, Hungary, Ireland, Jamaica, Malta, Malaysia, Mongolia, Monaco, Mozambique, Netherlands, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Seychelles, Slovenia, Spain, St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Surinam, Sweden, Taiwan, Tanzania, Turks & Caicos Island, United Kingdom, Uruguay and Venezuela. With this addition, the total count of countries under the scheme will go up to 113. Simultaneously, the Centre is going to add 7 more Indian airports as designated airports for entry on e-Tourist Visa from August 15th. The new airports being included in the scheme are, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Gaya, Jaipur, Lucknow, Tirchy and Varanasi. With this, the total number of designated airports will become 16.
The Centre has launched the scheme on November last year. The scheme has been extended to 77 countries at nine airports designated for providing e-Tourist Visa service till now. Since the launch of the scheme more than 2 lakhs e-Tourist Visas have been issued till now.