just seen on VFS website that visa fees for UK nationals ONLY are increasing from 17th of jan 2013 from £42.20 to £92.20. .. If you want to get it in at the old price your app must arrive there by wed if it arrives by thursday it will be returned to you!! doesnt give a lot of notice does it

Ever felt unwanted I think this will be the last straw for a lot of brits coming to Goa... sad
Chilly

I would say this would be the final nail in the coffin for the ordinary holidaymaker. There is no way most couples will pay £200 before they even start looking at flights/hotels.

I've merged Nejulie and Chilly's post as they posted together regarding the visa increase.

This is sad news for a lot of people and will probably mean this will be the last season for many. Whats the point in trying to get a cheap deal, flight etc when this increase will make India a very expensive option.and for TWEEKERS (2 week holiday makers) that will mean it cost £6 pounds a day.

I blame our government for our High fees, sadly other countries are following suit. It cost £80 quid to come here if you are no EU.

thats made my decision next year easy now. I would say its my last trip there now its getting too costly to get there

thats made my mind up for next year. I am going in 4 weeks on my 15th trip and I think it will be my last. I am going to look at other places now. Goa used to be a cheap winter holiday for me, now the amount I pay to get there I could fly and stay in Tampa for 2 weeks

We were unsure about going next year for a variety of reasons, both health and having to visit Oz twice this year, once for our sons 50th birthday, and also later, for our oldest friends Golden Wedding. By chance I happened to check the Qatar flight. prices for next Nov. this afternoon, and they were in the high £700s then I saw the post when I looked in here The new visa charge would make our visit to Goa dearer than the journey to Oz. As others have said this will be the final nail in the coffin for any short, two or three week visits to Goa I fear It certainly made up our minds for us. Very sad.
Alan

I feel like crying,to think this will be our last holiday in Goa,but the flights are not cheap,the fiasco of visa applications,make you think how easy it is to just book somewhere else.But nowhere feels the same(and we have tried quite a few)
Also what would happen to this site where i feel like i know people,from their advice and information over the years.We should make a protest,how many followers do we have?

Thanks for posting the info,my other half picked it up off Maz on FB. Have just done them and made the payment £42.20
Got to agree with others, that this will deffo need some thinking about for 2014 but would hate for this season to be our last and have to say a final farewell to friends for many years - INDIA WHAT ARE YOU DOING !!

looks like its skeggy with the lads then Spike

Hi Spike, glad Dee got my message. I dont want to make any knee jerk reactions by saying I wont be back. I will say that i might look at alternate locations for next year. That has a lot to do with elections as well in feb/March next year, so dry days and things closing early. I do think that this might price Goa out of the range of a lot of people though.

I have considered that while options like Thailand seem cheaper and the hotels are better quality the exchange rate means i would be spending a lot more per day on food and drink. Even with the increase Goa would still be cheaper for me for a months holiday. Its the one and only time where traveling solo works out better for me.

How about setting up an official petition, there is a website for it, although i dont recall it right now. Then we can push if for you, promote it using the HT.

good idea! Perhaps this could on a seperate thread as those interested in the petition may not need to read here as they know what to do with fillling in their visas.

I think to put things into perspective, the cost of a visa has been £30 for many years.

IIRC, we paid that for our first visa in Nov 1994.

With the outsourcing to VFS, that added £10.20 admin fee.
If they had applied a small increase year-on-year, we'd probably not be having this discussion.
It's just that it seems such a hike all in one go.

I agree that it's an additional £200 per couple (instead of £100) but should we be obsessing about the cost of a visa?
Isn't it how much a holiday costs us in total that's the key financial issue?

I work on a 'total cost of holiday' basis so take into account flights, accommodation, spends on food & drink, trips - and visa if applicable.

I'd compare how much a holiday would cost in another country before letting the visa cost put me off.

It's the other things - dry days, sun bed rules, no shacks at the beginning of the season etc - that would put me off.

@ Chris
are you talking about a petition to UK Government?

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/

PPC
for those who have not been to Goa before- the £200 will put them off. I think they won't even bother looking beyond that.

Quite possibly it may put some potential newcomers off, Fiona, unless they check out the pretty cheap cost of living (and shopping) in Goa and decide it's worth paying for the visa.

We spend about half the amount on food & drink (and don't stint ourselves) during 3 weeks in Goa than we do in 2 weeks in Greece & Turkey.

But the cost of food & drink in Europe doesn't put us off going.

TBH, we've always found it hard to find somewhere we fancy in late November that gets decent weather and isn't All Inclusive.

omg please don't tell hubbie bout increase in visa just yet, we are planning on goin back in nov, will tell him when hes in a good mood, have to pick my moment lol but seeing as he loves it that much I think he will pay it,

The thing is that it is not cheap everywhere in India- for instance Mumbai. So I think this will have a big effect throughout India. Perhaps it will backfire on them.
If you take £200 per couple and add it to the carry on you have actually getting the visa then it is just too much now. Not everyone can be without their passport for an unkown amount of time. (We can't chance it as OH needs his passport all the time. So we need to travel to Glasgow. ).

Perhaps this conversation could be moved by a mod as it is a bit off topic - but worth discussing

We where hoping for a tour of India next year and was not thrilled with the price to start with, I do think this possible will be the last straw and stop us going