India Visa

[AyG]

Just a few notes from my experience of getting a visa for India at VFS this month:

(1) Despite having completed the application form on-line, on arriving to submit my documents I was told that another form was required, a "Non-Thai reference form". This is not mentioned anywhere on the website. You're charged another 100 Baht for them to type the information in for you, even though every single piece of information is already entered on the application form. This seems like a scam to me.

(2) When I submitted my documents at the counter I was told that the form was not required since I'd been living in Thailand for more than 3 years. (I subsequently complained by email and received a refund of the 100 Baht.)

(3) Logically, you'd think they'd want to know your address in Thailand and have two referees living in Thailand if you've been living here for a long time, but no, they wanted an address (even if it's just that of a friend or relative) and referees living in my home country.

(4) The queues to pick up your passport are horrendous. I arrived at about 16:45 - fifteen minutes before the 17:00 - 18:00 time slot for collecting your passport. I was number sixty in the queue, and the office was already packed. It will have been much worse for people arriving a little later. I guess the average waiting time was well over an hour. (Note that the time slot for collecting your passport is not as stated on the website.)

(5) The website says that all bags are forbidden at the centre. This isn't true. Nobody pays any attention to this.

[Crossy]

Thanks AyG, very similar experiences to my own although I do remember filling in the non-Thai form online (IIRC I knew it was required so went looking for it).

I had to wait 3 hours to get my PP back

[daboyz1]

Yeah that place is a mess. Took me a week to get a visa there back in 2005. They also don't understand what a queue is. When the windows open, everyone runs up there.