India e-Visa requirements for Maltese citizens
Most visitors hate going to an embassy to obtain a visa, which is quite understandable. It's inconvenient to queue in line, and depending on your place of origin, you may have to go a considerable distance before you can enjoy your planned vacation.
Knowing that difficulty can be an obstacle for travelers from visiting India, in 2014 the Indian government decided to launch a new type of visa called an electronic visa (e-visa).
Travelers from over 150 countries, including Maltese citizens, can apply for an India e-visa. It's convenient because all you need is a computer or a smartphone with an internet connection.
In this article, you can see all information about the India e-visa for Maltese citizens, including e-visa types and requirements.
1. Types of India visas for Maltese citizens
The Indian e-visa is various in type and will not restrict you in most cases. Although the staying time is shorter than the casual type and you will not be allowed to visit or enter some special areas, an e-visa is still a good option for short-term trips, and many more people nowadays like using this visa type for their trips.
To be specific, there are 4 available types of India e-visa for Maltese citizens:
- Indian e-Tourist visa: used when you plan to have a tourism trip to India. With this type of visa, you can stay in India for up to 30 days from the date of your arrival, and cannot be extended or converted.
- Indian e-Business visa: used when you need to enter India for business or other related purposes. With this type of e-visa, you can stay for up to 365 days from the day of granting and multiple times to enter India. Each period of stay shall not exceed 180 days.
- Indian e-Conference visa: used when you need to join a conference organized by a ministry of the Indian government. With this type of e-visa, you can stay in India for up to 30 days with a single entry only.
- Indian e-Medical visa: this type of e-visa gives you an allowance to enter India to get medical and healthcare services. With this e-visa type, you can stay in India for up to 60 days with 03 entry times in total.
2. India visa requirements for Maltese citizens
Although India e-Visa will do most of the legwork for travelers, they still need to furnish a few documents before applying for their India e-Visa. Travelers will find a list of everything there must submit here:
- Valid passport which is valid for at least 06 months from the date of your arrival and a blank page for verification markings.
- Traveler's digital photo - Just make sure it's current. It is not permitted for tourists to make facial motions in it, and the background should be white. As required, scan and submit it
- A scan of the information page on a passport
- Maltese citizens can pay the visa fee with a credit or debit card.
- Note:
- All these types of visas have 4 months' validity from the granting date. After that time, if you still do not use your e-visa, it will expire and you need to apply again next time.
- You need to be careful when filling in information in an application form because any faulty information can cause the denial of your application or delay for correction.
3. India e-visa fee for Maltese citizens and payment method:
Talking about the payment, you need to know there are 02 kinds of India visa fees: the government and the service fee. In addition, you can add a small fee for COVID-19 insurance to increase your chance of getting accepted as well as keep your benefits when you are going to travel overseas.
The government fee is compulsory since Malta is not on the exemption list of India and the service fee is adjustable depending on the service type you choose:
- Normal: this standardized type has a processing time of 3 business days.
- Urgent: the higher service type that can help you get an India e-visa for Maltese citizens within just 24 hours.
- Super urgent: the highest priority type which can take your e-visa within around 5 business hours.
Payment method: you can choose between electronic transactions (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, or Paypal) or wire transfer (through HSBC bank).