Hi there,
I thought I'd share my recent experience with the newish Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVOA) for India. There seems to be lack of information on it.
A check in officer at the Kingfisher airline desk in London Heathrow Airport was unaware of Delhi being one of the TVOA entry points. He was fine with my no-visa status once I showed him the print out of TVOA information page from Indian High Commission website.
When I arrived at Delhi airport, there was a big sign 'Tourist Visa On Arrival' pointing to the right of the escalator, just before the immigration. There were two officers looking happy to have a passenger. I completed a TVOA application there which is similar to the normal tourist visa application for India. I also handed in one passport photo and the fee of USD $60. They stamped my passport and gave me a visa expiary date as per the departure date on my flight ticket. They also took the arrival card and stamped the customs card. The whole process took about 20 minutes. The officers were friendly but took their time processing it. Don't think it was a two-persons job for that long but I found services are generally slow in India.
There was no exit from the TVOA area. Even though I had the entry and customs card stamped, I still had to queue in the main immigration area for 20 minutes. I didn't see how else I could exit the immigration area and there was no one official around to ask. The immigration officer just told me to go through when I flashed the TVOA. So it seems like I didn't have to be there.
My flight was from UK which is an ineligible nation for TVOA and I was the only person at the TVOA desk at the time so no waiting time involved. It may be a slow process if many people from Japanese/Singaporean flights want to apply for TVOA.
So fellow TVOA eligible travellers,
1. Take the print out of TVOA information page from India High Commission
2. Take USD 60 or Indian Rupee equivalent
3. Take one passport photo
4. Ask the TVOA officer how to exit the immigration before joining a queue!!
Hope this helps. India is an amazing place with so many friendly people. Happy travelling!
Cheers.




