Getting an Indian visa in China

[onebir]

As far as I can tell, the Indian Embassy (Beijing) & consulate (Shanghai) don't accept postal applications (or even answer emails).

But I can't believe everyone who goes to India has to go to Beijing/Shanghai(/Hong Kong) in person... does anyone know of a visa service that'll take care of it?

[nihaoxiexie]

Hi,

I found this on the Lonely Planet forum. It might be of a little use to you... It was in relation to a guy in Beijing needing to get a visa.

They were a royal pain in the a&&. AND they made mistakes on the date so I had to come back another day and get it changed.

Have cash, the photos, the paperwork filled out (you can download the forms from the internet) and if they give you any problems, ask to speak to the manager. Actually, check what the names of the muckity mucks are in that office. Call them ahead of time...their phone numbers are usually listed on the site. Ask to make sure or give them a reason why you need it done in a certain length of time. If the drones at the front office give you a hard time, tell them that Mr So and So said this can be done. Get there before the office opens and be prepared to wait.

There wasn't much else there, nothing about mail order, not sure if the link will work but give it a try......http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/messagepost.cfm?postaction=reply&catid=19&threadid=1492938&messid=13207808&iCountryId=84

[cdn_in_bj]

I don't think you have to drop off the forms yourself - if you have a friend in BJ/SH/etc. you can send your stuff to them and ask them to drop it off for you. Of course, once the visa is ready your friend will need to make another trip to the consulate to pick it up and send it back to you.

[onebir]

I don't think you have to drop off the forms yourself - if you have a friend in BJ/SH/etc. you can send your stuff to them and ask them to drop it off for you. Of course, once the visa is ready your friend will need to make another trip to the consulate to pick it up and send it back to you.

I think that's right. But I'd rather pay a visa service than put my friends through the (apparently lengthy & error prone) procedure...

[muyongshi]

I think that's right. But I'd rather pay a visa service than put my friends through the (apparently lengthy & error prone) procedure...

Depends on how much you like your friends

[roddy]

There's this one - haven't used it or even looked at it closely, it just popped up on Google. Seems to be geared up for business travellers, but it might be somewhere to start. You get quite a few if you google 印度 签证 代办, but these firms are likely to be familiar with the procedure for Chinese nationals, not foreigners - not sure what the differences are, if any.

[cdn_in_bj]

I'm not sure why it would be error-prone, when I got mine in Canada there weren't any problems. Maybe for certain nationalities they do more background checks, etc.?

[onebir]

ou get quite a few if you google 印度 签证 代办, but these firms are likely to be familiar with the procedure for Chinese nationals, not foreigners - not sure what the differences are, if any.

Thanks for the tip Roddy - didn't occur to me to google in chinese There seem to be some differences in procedure, but they're minor, so those guys (or similar) should be able to do it...

I'm not sure why it would be error-prone, when I got mine in Canada there weren't any problems.

Erm, the combination of Indian and Chinese bureaucracy springs to mind. A few posts on Thorntree did mention errors, & I imagine the number of Thorntreers applying for Indian visas in China isn't massive, so it sounds like errors aren't totally rare.