Indian home ministry approved South Koreans to fly and obtain a visa on their arrival facilities. Japan and South Korea are the only countries allowed for the process.
India's visa on arrival conditions will allow South Korean passport holders double entry for a period that will not exceed 60 days for business trips, tourism, medical, and conferences. According to sources from the Home ministry, their visa on arrival facility can be availed at 6 government designated airports in the whole country that includes Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.
The country's visa on arrival facility process started in March 2016. It was first implemented to accommodate Japanese Nationals flying to the country. Japanese and South Korean nationals with assured financial standing and without residence or occupation in the country can now avail the non-extendable and non-convertible visas.
The process was offered before to citizens of 12 countries that include Cambodia, Finland, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Luxembourg, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, and South Korea. It was, however, discontinued in November 2014 following the launch of the e-Tourist Visa. The E-visa facility now caters 166 countries. It is estimated to be 40 percent of the total visas issued in India. The number of tourists in India increased at a fast rate after the e-visa was implemented. There are around 447,000 foreigners in India in 2015 and in 2017 it increased to 1.7 million.
The visa on arrival can be obtained with an Rs2, 000 fees. To start the process, the Japanese and South Korean nationals need to bring a duly-filled up visa on arrival application form, a disembarkation card. They need to approach the "visa counter" at any of the designated airports in the country. The documents will be validated by an immigration officer. After checking the eligibility of the applicant, the officer will stamp the application. The applicants will be directed to the immigration counter. The applicant is required to pay the processing fee and his or her biometrics and image will be captured. After the whole process, the officer will stamp the passport and the disembarkation card will be collected.
The new visa processing in India is expected to boost India's tourism. According to records, it is estimated that around 2 lakh Indian visas are approved to South Korean Nationals annually. The 80 percent of the estimate are tourists and an average of 600 Korean National arrives in Delhi every day.
