Looks like visa on arrival won't be in place till December( probably later)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Visa-power-PMO-gives-nod-to-electronic-clearance/articleshow/37550925.cms

Finally done it.......after 15yrs of twice a year Goan/Indian holidays...weve booked for Sri Lanka
One of the reasons is the visa situation.....
For Sri Lanka you require a ETA which costs about £18....then you get issued a visa on arrival for NOTHING.... Will consider Goa again once the Visa situation has been sorted....VOA and when they are a sensible price.

I keep meaning to try Sri Lanka so would love to hear how you like it

Hi Fiona
Not going until Feb next year, but i will let you know how we get on....

noggin wrote:

Finally done it.......after 15yrs of twice a year Goan/Indian holidays...weve booked for Sri Lanka
One of the reasons is the visa situation.....
For Sri Lanka you require a ETA which costs about £18....then you get issued a visa on arrival for NOTHING.... Will consider Goa again once the Visa situation has been sorted....VOA and when they are a sensible price.

Well said!

On this subject, the new government has been in power for a while now, is there any fresh news on this new scheme going ahead as reported, next October?
Alan

Just checked and nothing new as far as I can see.

Several cases of 3 month visas for £50 being issued, but nothing on HCI or VFS websites, so makes you wonder how people know to apply for them? They must be told when turning up in person to apply?

But by then they should have done the online application?

Weird, innit?

I have certainly kept checking. Thing is that they won't necessarily be thinking about the Goa season so it may yet appear once the season has started.

Or after it has finished

More than likely

Much as I hate the visa process, I do feel a little comfortable with it, and am very, very afraid of visa on arrival.

I have done it in other countries, but this is India. How many queues will it entail?

I will apply for my visa in October, and am sure it will be the same process as last year.

The first time we went to Thailand and just had to fill in a small form, and get a stamp in the passport, I was looking for the next queue to join for the next part of the process. There wasn't one, it was all done in the blink of an eye and then in to baggage collection (which had one conveyor belt for each flight, and no one taking the bags off to be "helpful"!!).

We just visa on arrival in Cambodia. It was quite quick- the passports were passed along what looked like a factory line. However, the people in the queue next to us were being told they had to give an extra dollar. Later on that day I heard it can progressed to an extra 10.

Yes, I suppose it could be open to that. At least with the current Indian visa, you have it safe and sound in your passport. It still gets looked at numerous times, and I'm still never 100% certain until I have left the airport. Especially last year, we had a visa on one page and the empty page for stamping was over the page.