Hi Guys just going through the process of filling in my online Visa I have been through this 10 times in the past but not been to Goa for a couple of years so I have listed a check list below just in case I have made any errors, if anyone can add anymore before I post it or corrrect any mistakes please feel free.

This will be a postal application so London is the place to send it.

Fill in online very carefully check every detail, then check again.

Get photo done, check the photo samples that you find online for the rquirements, 2" x 2" paste in correct place on form.

Spend a day practising my own signature to make sure it's the same as the one in the Passport before signing the forms

Make online payment.

Go to post office get recorded registered envelopes for sending and the return delivery.

Post then keep fingers crossed for a week or so that I did it all O.K.

Ask myself why I keep doing this......

Good luck..

Well I think we have had the quickest turnaround in our experience yet with our Visas. I sent them off on Tuesday and they were courier delivered back to us this morning, 3 days total turnaround, very efficient.

Our only gripe is the increase in the cost, this really makes us begin to wonder whether we will be going back again soon. As far as I am aware the 60 day rule still applies so to pay such a high price for what in essence will probably just cover one trip is rather much. We do wonder whether the quick turnaround reflects this and perhaps they do not have quite so many applications.

The 60 day rule no longer applies.

Well that is good news, I had seen something earlier in the year but was not sure whether it had in fact happened. You never know with India!

Perhaps I can now persuade my OH to take me to Soumyens for my 50th!

3 days Miccie well done we go to Dublin in the morning for our visas they only cost 52 euros there thats only about £43 so im more than happy with that .im told it over a hundred pound now for one in the UK ....colleen

That's brilliant IC. Have just done mine today, it cost £102.40 because there is no facility to tick that you want to have them returned by SD so we had to pay for their delivery method. Didn't mind so much this time as the Post Office keep striking at the moment. It cost more than my new passport with extra pages! Never thought I would start thinking that there will be no more Goa after this visit. I think we are really being taken for a ride.

Good luck Colleen.

BrenLiz ours cost the same and we are also now thinking that this could well be our last trip to Goa. The price of the holiday is enough but when you factor in this increase in the visas it really makes you think. If they are only 52 euros in Dublin I really don't understand why they are twice as much here in the UK, definitely being ripped off.

I think a lot of people will think the same way. Once you have booked you have to go along with it but people may think twice next year. It does spoil the thought of the holiday though. This is the first time I have felt like this in 14 years. I don't like being ripped off. Wouldn't mind so much if everyone was being charged the same. No wonder people are getting their visas back so quick, maybe there are a lot less people going this year. This forum is certainly much quieter than normal.

After going to Goa for 10 years running we fancied a change 2 years ago and went to Cape Verde and then this January we went to Mexico, we were planning on going back to Goa but after the increase in visa charges we have changed our plans and are going to Thailand instead.

Don't feel to bad about what I paid at the moment. My neighbour has just been over, he is going to Goa for the first time this year so I told him I would help him do his visa as he doesn't have access to a computer. He came over to tell me he has used an agent. It cost him £265 for 2 visas, he was a bit sick when I told him the real cost. Said he would listen to me in future.

Brenliz am I right in thinking that when you pay the £102.40 for the visa you then have to pay for the SAE ..to get the visa back to you ...

No the return cost was included in the fee. There was no facility this year for requesting return by SD. The only boxes were for personal collection or return by their courier service which is more expensive than SD.

Not going back to Goa this year as I feel we are all being ripped off with the massive hike in visa fee, makes me wonder if they really want the British tourists there at all so have decided on two weeks in Egypt instead.

This coming Christmas/ new year will be the first time in over 4 years we not spent
it in Goa, as a family of five there was no way we where going to spend over
£500 on bloody visa,
Well done to those concerned for the outrageous price hike, thats 9
family memebrs i know of who won't be returning

I'm sure Goa would love the tourists but the Indian Government have set the visa prices. With any luck the VOA will mean a far cheaper price.It might help next season.

I must agree about the cost, when we first started going to Goa, the visa's were around 35 pounds, at the time I thought that was expensive, now at 100 pound odd, it means that it is the price of a holiday, for families. I read in the newspaper yesterday that Thailand is now introducing visa's from January 1st 2014, there is no information about if it is a visa on arrival, or through the embassy. A lot of people are going to get caught out.

OT- but re Thailand. Unless I have missed something. it looks like an entry fee you pay upon landing of approx. £10.

Hi,

Fiona is correct about the proposed fee of about 500 baht. At the moment I understand it to be a proposal for arrivals by air

See http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-2469988/Thailand-looks-introduce-tourist-entry-fee-bid-improve-quality-visitors.html

Hope that it is not much more as, in the scheme of things, approx GBP10 is not too much - a marginal cost on top of the air fare.

For any long haul flight (especially above economy class) the UK's Air Passenger Duty is the biggest killer (and that's just for the privilege for leaving our Divided Kingdom) http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/apd.htm

Sometimes, I think that the Indian visa costs are a tit for tat response to the cost and difficulty to Indian nationals of obtaining a UK visa.



Peter