Visa rules: Tourists face tough time in Goa

Foreign tourists to Goa are having a tough time filling up forms, standing in long queues at Indian embassies and reporting to the foreigner’s registration offices in the country with the tightening of the visa rules, and frustration is writ large on their faces.

“It’s unbelievable what we have gone through just to come to India. To think, we tourists got a visa-on-arrival when we went for a short trip to Thailand,” says Karole Boyd from Scotland, who works with the Scotland government. She recently went through a harrowing experience along with her friends in Thailand after they culminated a six-day trip to the south east Asian country and decided to return to their “base” in Goa.

“We were told at the Bangkok airport that we couldn’t get onto the plane to India,” explains Boyd’s friend Jean Sibbald, also from Scotland. Sibbald and Boyd were part of a group of tourists from the United Kingdom who arrived in Goa on a six month, multiple-entry tourist visa.

“We left for Thailand shortly before the new rules were implemented, not knowing what we were going to face later. We were told by our travel agent and people at Mumbai airport that we wouldn’t have a problem getting back,” said Sibbald.

“While returning, the airline officials at Bangkok told us we would be sent back by the authorities at Mumbai airport and we would have to bear the expenses,” she added.

With no option, the tourists approached the Indian embassy in Bangkok. “We had to endure long queues, and pay an additional ten pounds to fill up the necessary forms to re-enter India,” said Sibbald. The tourists say that they were met by a rather strange query by an embassy official. “He asked us: ‘How can some of you afford to holiday in Goa for such a long period? I will never get leave for four weeks’. However, we replied that it was a personal matter, and we are self-sufficient, and doing well for ourselves,” Sibbald added.

The tourists caught a flight to India on the same day - a Friday - itself. “We were lucky to get our clearances on Friday itself, or we would be stuck in Thailand till Monday due to the weekend holiday for the Indian embassy,” said Boyd.

Their troubles didn’t end there. “Once back in Goa, we had to report to the Foreigners Registration Office (FRO) in Panaji and register ourselves, as the new rule says it must be done within 14 days of re-entering India,” she added.

However, to add to her misery, the FRO in Panaji told Boyd that her journey was in vain and she was not required to register herself.

“I’m here for four weeks and am returning back to Scotland soon. The FRO said that if I’m leaving India within 14 days of re-entering the country, I don’t need to register myself.” Sibbald, however, had to go through the registration procedure. “I had to click a photograph which had a similar background as my passport picture. The whole process is so frustrating and puts tourists to inconvenience. I feel, that I’m not coming back to Goa or India next year for a holiday,” she said.

“Your government has upset many people - tourists and foreigners residing here. Not forgetting the local tourism industry in the country,” states Christopher Turner, a British travel writer.

He observed that the new visa regulations have literally strangulated India’s tourism sector.