Applying for visas for India

India requires would-be tourists to apply for visas, which is entirely reasonable. But they have some very odd questions and/or answer options, and a decidedly glitchy online application system.

Should you find yourself applying for a visa to India, you should be aware of the following things:

Firstly, you have to choose which kind of Visa you are applying for.  For us, it was simple: tourist visa. But other options include: Emergency, Business, Student, Journalist, Employment, Conference, Transit, Entry, Research, Missionary, and Medical & Medical Attendant.

Your Nationality is very important, and is asked at multiple points, as is your Previous Nationality. And Place of Birth. Likewise those of your parents and spouse. This was a bit tricky as JD didn't have a clue where his mother was born, and she's not around to ask any more. Thankfully, I managed to find his birth certificate, so that one was solved. Any my birth certificate helped spell my father's birthplace, (a town in West Bengal).

It turns out if you're a national, or a former national of a bunch of countries, you have extra paperwork to do. Oh, and if you're now or formerly Pakistani, your application will take months rather than days.

• If you are Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Sri Lankan you must either provide a Statutory Declaration that you do not hold dual citizenship, else supply both passports.
• If you are from/previously from a bunch of countries, you need to complete an extra form, which among other things requires that you identify either your father or your spouse (what happens if you don't know who your father is and you're not married?).

You must advise your occupation. These are the occupations you must choose from:

• Air Force
• Business Man
• Camera Man
• Charity/Social Worker
• Chartered Accountant
• College/University Teacher
• Diplomat
• Doctor
• Engineer
• Film Producer
• Government Service
• House Wife
• Journalist
• Labour
• Lawyer
• Media
• Military
• Missionary
• Navy
• News Broadcaster
• Official
• Others
• Police
• Press
• Private Service
• Publisher
• Reporter
• Researcher
• Retired
• Student
• Trader
• TV Producer
• Un-Employed [sic]
• UN Official
• Worker
• Writer

Note that if you choose "Journalist" as your occupation, you are required to get a Journalist Visa regardless of the purpose of your trip. Which seems odd, as you could easily get around this by choosing one of the other similar occupations (Media, Writer, Camera Man, Press, Reporter, Film or TV Producer, News Broadcaster or even Publisher). I don't know what "Labour" or "Worker" is, except possibly that's what a tradesman should choose. And what on earth is "Private Service"? Is that like a nanny/au pair/personal assistant? They seem particularly hung up on members of the Defence Force (Air Force, Navy, Military, Police), and you must also separately identify if you are now or have ever been "in a Miliary/Semi-Military/Police/Security Organization". 

Technically, I'm a Certified Practicing Accountant, not a Chartered Accountant, but I figured it was close enough. For the boys, I was required to put an occupation (despite declaring them to be minors on the previous page), so I chose Student. Good thing they're at least school aged.  JD was a bit trickier - he's a Human Resources Manager. So not really a Business Man, or anything else on that list. So I put Others.

Each applicant is also required to enter their past occupation, if any. I left it blank for everyone but me - I choose Engineer. That'll confuse 'em.

You must also provide your Educational Qualification (note they are in alphabetical order, not in qualification order, which might have made it easier to choose, particularly as they're not linear):

• Below Matriculation
• Graduate
• Higher Secondary
• Illiterate (Would "Primary School or less" cover this?)
• Matriculation
• NA being Minor
• Post Graduate
• Professional (how is this an educational qualification? )

EDITED TO ADD: The visa application spells this out a bit better than it used to

Educational Qualification: Select the level of education of the applicant:

• BELOW MATRICULATION – less than 10th grade education
• GRADUATE – College or university education
• HIGHER SECONDARY – High school education
• ILLITERATE – Not formally educated
• MATRICULATION – 10th grade level education
• POST GRADUATE – advanced study beyond college or university (MA, PhD, etc.)
• PROFESSIONAL – professional /technical training or certification

You have to state your religion. In a country of dozens of religions, it's not all that unusual, except that they don't seem to countenance the possibility that you might not have one.

• Bahai
• Buddhism
• Christian
• Hindu
• Muslim
• Others (we chose this, and then specified "None")
• Parsi
• Sikh
• Zoroastrian

Oh, and the payment system is also ambiguous. If you choose to print the completed form, then you will be able to do so, but nothing else. If you choose Appointment and Payment (even though there are no appointments to be made), you may not be able to get a (required) print-out of your application. Consequently, I've only paid for Ky's visa ($109.27) so far.  There does not appear to be anyway to get to a payment screen without cancelling the application and starting the whole thing over.  I might just send a cheque to cover the other three applications. I will also need to organise recent passport photos of the kids (JD and I have ones from our TKD Sports Member registration), and get photocopies of the kids' birth certificates.

Glad I started this process on a day when I had several hours to dedicate to it! I'm home with Jos who is on day three of a bout of tonsillitis, poor chook. The antibiotics are finally starting to work, so he'll be back at school tomorrow.