Trivandrum International Airport to issue Tourist Visa on Arrival soon

The Trivandrum International Airport will soon join the ranks of airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata in issuing Tourist Visa on Arrival (T-VoA) to Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos, Myanmar and Indonesia. The Ministry of External Affairs, Govt. of India has approved the visa for visitors from France, Germany and Russia, while a nod from the Bureau of Immigration (BOI), which functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India, is awaited, according to a report by S Anil Radhakrishnan in The Hindu.

Those applying for the visa should neither be residents of India, nor should they be working in India. Their passports must have minimum six-month validity. On receipt, the T-VoA will be valid for 30 days. According to BOI norms, the purpose of the visit should be recreation, sightseeing, or meeting friends and relatives.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) informed the BOI that it can allocate a facilitation centre, an exclusive visa desk, a foreign exchange, a holding area counter, signboards and facilities for taking photographs of visiting foreign nationals at the international terminal. Trivandrum figures along with Goa and Bengaluru on the short list of BOI for granting T-VoA.

Being introduced as part of a plan of the Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India to double the number of foreign tourists visiting the country in three or four years, T-VoA is expected to give a fillip to the burgeoning tourism sector of Kerala.

Sourced: travelbizmonitor