The Consulate General of India in Melbourne has warned travellers against fake e-visa websites.
‘A number of fake e-visa websites are operating on the internet, claiming to provide e-visa services to foreign nationals desiring to travel to India. In order to mislead applicants, some of these websites have created images and home page templates similar to Government of India website,’ the Consulate told SBS Hindi.
The newly-appointed Consul General of India, Mr Raj Kumar said the Consulate had received complaints about such websites and he was keen to raise awareness among those wanting to travel to India.
“These fake websites offers Electronic Visa to India and some of them offer them on urgent/express basis.
‘We regularly receive complaints regarding these fake websites, where people apply for E-Visa on these websites and later realise that they have been duped,” Mr Kumar told SBS Hindi.
Mr Kumar warned against agents or intermediaries who claim to facilitate express e-visa.
“Government of India has not authorised any such agents or intermediaries,” he said.
“We want to make the community aware and want to protect them from wasting their money and time. The money usually charged by these websites is more than double the amount of actual Government of India e-visa fee.”
India offers an electronic visa on arrival for visitors from 150 countries including Australia.
Source: Twitter
The tourist visa on arrival (TvoA), enabled by the Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA), popularly known as e-Visa scheme, was launched in 2014.
E-visa is now available for tourist, business, medical and conference categories and allows the person to spend between 30-180 days in the country depending on their visa category and nationality.
E-Visa for visit to India can be obtained from the Government of India website: , the Consulate said.
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