Thursday 16 April 2015

ETA-enabled Tourist Visa on Arrival Scheme Renamed as e-Tourist Visa

The Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India has decided to change the name of the scheme, ‘Tourist Visa on Arrival-Electronic Travel Authorization’ (TVoA-ETA) to ‘e-Tourist Visa’ (eTV), with effect from today. The extension of the scheme to more countries and airports will be in a phased manner, in order to avoid any confusion, as per a PIB release. 

The Centre has decided for a name change because the name TVoA-ETA was creating confusion among tourists. Tourists presumed that the visa is being granted on arrival, while the fact is that in the present system, the pre-authorisation of visa to foreigners is being given prior to travel. The Home Affairs Ministry had also received requests for name change from some Indian embassies. 

A committee of officers from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of External Affairs, and Bureau of Immigration (BoI) was formed for the formulation of a new name for the scheme. A contest was also conducted on mygov.in, inviting suggestions on the name of the scheme. 

Keeping in view the application process and purpose of the scheme, the committee had suggested e-Tourist Visa as the appropriate new name for the scheme. 

The Government of India had launched TVoA-ETA on November 27, 2014 for 43 countries at nine airports, to facilitate short-duration international travellers. Since the launch of the scheme, 110,000 visas have been issued by the government under this scheme.

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