Indian eVisa for Bulgarian citizens
The Indian E-Visa was introduced by the Indian government for foreign travelers who wanted to visit India for short-term stay. This service was initiated in 2014 for a smooth visa application process. This electronic travel authority is facilitated to around 171 countries, and Bulgaria is one of the Indian eVisa eligible countries.
With the increasing demand of the Indian visa, this facility made it much easier for foreign tourists to enter India for short-term stays. The application for this electronic travel authority takes place online, right from filling the form, uploading the documents to receiving the Indian eVisa by email.
Before applying for the Indian eVisa, we have mentioned some of the details about the Indian eVisa in brief, so that you have a better understanding of what exactly are its types and how to apply.
Purposes for which you can use the Indian eVisa
Short-term eVisas are designed for visiting India for reasons related to tourism, medical and business. International travelers whose sole purpose of visiting India is for exploring the natural wonders, historical places, spiritual escape, cultural experience, beach vacation, wellness retreats like yoga and meditation, for business activities like attending meetings, events, etc, medical treatment, or for meeting friends and relatives.
Different Categories of Indian eVisas available and what are the validity period of each of these eVisas?
The different types of Indian eVisas are listed below, which the citizens of Bulgaria can apply based on their requirement, and the duration of each eVisa-type differs.
Indian Tourist eVisa for Bulgarian citizens
This tourist eVisa is for Bulgarian citizens who want to travel India for meeting their friends and relatives, who wish to explore the natural wonders, historical places, wildlife exploration, yoga and meditation programs, beach vacation, adventurous activities, etc.
The validity of the tourist eVisa offered varies, according to the stay period and duration of the eVisa, which are further sub-categorized as follows:
Indian E-Tourist Visa for 30 days: This short-term tourist eVisa is valid for 30-days and offers two-entries. Travelers must know that this eVisa expires one day before the validity period, thus you must leave the country latest by 29th day.
Indian E-Tourist Visa for 1 year: This short-term tourist eVisa is valid for one-year and offers unlimited-entries, each visit with a maximum stay of 6-months.
Indian E-Tourist Visa for 5 years: This short-term tourist eVisa is valid for five-years and offers unlimited-entries, each visit with a maximum stay of 6-months.
Indian Business eVisa for Bulgarian citizens
This business eVisa is for Bulgarian citizens who have to travel to India for business meetings, taking interviews of candidates, guiding in a project, opening of a new branch office, etc.
This short-term business eVisa is valid for one-year and offers double-entries, stay offered is for a maximum period of 6-months, which the business travelers can use the stay offered all at once or split into two-parts.
Indian eMedical Visa for Bulgarian citizens
This medical eVisa is for Bulgarian citizens who have to travel to India for consulting a doctor, surgery and medical treatment.
This short-term medical eVisa is valid for one-year and offers triple-entries, stay offered is for a maximum period of 2 months or 60 days.
Indian e-Medical Attendant Visa for Bulgarian citizens
This medical attendant eVisa is for Bulgarian citizens who have to travel to India to accompany the patients with an eMedical visa who have to consult the doctor or get a surgery or for medical treatment.
This short-term medical attendant eVisa is valid for one-year and offers triple-entries, stay offered is for a maximum period of 2 months or 60 days.
Indian Conference eVisa for Bulgarian citizens
This conference eVisa is for Bulgarian citizens who have to travel to India for attending international events, seminars, conferences, trade fairs, expos, and exhibitions.
This short-term conference eVisa is valid for 30-days and offers single-entry, you can only stay till the time-period of the conference held.
Necessary Documents that Bulgarian Citizens must furnish to apply for the Indian eVisa?
Below is a list of the obligatory documents that are required to apply for any type of Indian eVisa, whether you are applying for tourism, business or medical purposes, you must ensure that you have these listed documents first.
- Valid Bulgaria passport
- Scanned passport copy, only the biodata page with personal info and the passport-size photo.
- Scanned passport-photo to be uploaded should meet the uploading requirements
- Email address for getting Indian eVisa notifications and the approved eVisa.
- Credit/ debit card for paying the Indian eVisa fees
Other important requirements while applying the eVisa:
The passport photo should be recent, clicked in white background, front face, the whole face should be clicked, facial expression should be neutral.
If you have two passports you can only travel with the passport you have applied for the Indian eVisa and the passport must be valid, meaning it must have at least 6-months validity period before your return ticket.
Make sure that your passport has blank pages for getting visa stamps on arrival in India at the immigration checkpoints.
Yellow Fever Vaccination Card, if the traveler is coming from a country which is severely affected by yellow fever, failing to provide will lead to a quarantine period of 6-days on arriving in India.
The applicant must also furnish documents according to the eVisa type they have applied for, as a proof.
All the documents provided must be in English, failing to provide in English language, your document will not be accepted.
If you have all the documents handy, the process would be completed within 20 minutes, but make sure that you enter all the details correctly and honestly for your application to be accepted.
Based on the Indian eVisa type applied, there are certain documents required. What are those Specific Documents?
Apart from the documents that have been mentioned above there are other important documents that the applicant must-have according to the visa-type applied.
- For tourism purpose like short-term yoga and meditation programs that does not offer any certificate, a detail about the program
- Applicants applying for Indian eBusiness Visa will have to provide a letter in a letterhead from the company in India, with his name, inviting him for the meeting, event, etc. Also the applicant needs to provide his business card with the proper address of the company and his designation.
- Applicants applying for Indian eConference Visa will have to provide a letter in a letterhead from the organization in India, with his name, inviting him to attend the international conference, and clearance letters from the Ministry of Home Affairs and External Affairs.
- Applicants applying for Indian eMedical Visa will have to furnish a letter in a letterhead from the hospital in India where you will be getting the treatment, with his name, treatment details, start date and end date of treatment, and the concerned doctor signature.
- All the listed documents to be presented should be in English and must be uploaded using PDF format.
- The above listed documents should be scanned and uploaded as per the stated guidelines.
Since, you are ready to apply for the Indian eVisa, but before that have a brief idea about the steps and details to be filled
Bulgaria citizens applying for the Indian eVisa, should check the steps and details for a hassle-free visa application process:
Step 1: Visit the Indian eVisa site, click on the apply now button, you will be redirected to the application form, start filling the details asked in the form.
Step 2: You are required to fill in details like your full name, permanent residence address, mobile number, email address, date of birth, identification mark if any and nationality.
Step 3: Fill details of your passport like the passport number, its issuing country, and passport issuing date and expiry date.
Step 4: Fill additional information asked like your religion, gender, marital status, profession, and qualification.
Step 5: Important secret questions like do you have any serious health issues, have you ever committed a crime, been imprisoned, any legal issues, etc.
Step 6: Upload all the documents requested, following the instructions like passport size-photo, Armenia passport, document related to the eVisa type applied, etc.
Step 7: Carefully check the details you have filled, if you are sure that the details are correct, head to the payment page to pay the fees.
Step 6: After submitting the form you will get a confirmation mail, the final status of the application will be mailed to you.
Wondering what is the Time-taken to process the India e-Visa?
Bulgaria citizens should be happy to know that the time taken to process the Indian eVisa is 3-4 working days, whatever the status of your application form is, you will be notified by email. So if you have plans to visit India for tourism, medical or business reasons, try to apply at least 4-7 working days in advance.
If my Indian eVisa application is rejected, Will I get a refund?
The Indian eVisa application fees once received are non-refundable, as you have applied for the visa and your application was scrutinized, due to some reasons (for example incomplete submission of form, lack of genuine documents supporting the eVisa type, etc) it was rejected. Here is a list of the tips to avoid rejections, which might be useful for you to check out.
So the applicant is requested to fill the details in the form correctly, provide honest information and provide genuine documents.
How well in-advance can I apply for the Indian eVisa to skip the last-minute hassle?
To skip the last-minute hassle, the best would be that the applicants apply for this short-stay eVisa at least 4-7 working days in advance. In fact the immigration department of India has made the application process easy by allowing the foreign applicants to apply for 120 days in advance.
What happens on arrival in India? What are the documents to carry and what are the immigration steps to follow?
To visit India you should have the following documents in handy for a smooth immigration process, failing to furnish the documents might not grant you entry into the nation.
- Approved Indian eVisa
- Valid Bulgaria passport
- Passenger Arrival Card
- Documents related to eVisa type applied
- Sufficient money for survival in India
- Accommodation details
- Return ticket, sometimes you are requested to show
Immigration steps to follow:
Biometric requirements: Once you land in one of the authorized entry ports in India, exit from the flight and follow the lane towards immigration checkpoint, show your approved Indian eVisa and passport.Once the immigration officials verify the details, they will take your fingerprints and face photo for further verification.
Visa stamping: Once the approved Indian eVisa, passport and biometric details have been verified, you will receive the visa stamps on the passport.
Customs clearance steps to follow:
After passing the immigration check, head towards to collect your baggage, and then follow the sign leading towards the customs.
Be in the line according to your nationality and eVisa-type applied, declare restricted items if you have any, failing to declare will lead to heavy fines and penalties.
In case you don't have any items to declare, be in the green line, and finally enjoy your entry into India.
What to watch out for and avoid?
You cannot extend your stay with the Indian eVisa, you are allowed to stay for the time-period mentioned in your approved Indian eVisa.
Once you have applied for a particular eVisa, you cannot convert it. For example if you have applied for a tourist eVisa, you cannot convert it into a business eVisa because the purpose of visit is totally different, and the documents required to present are different as well.
If you wish to visit Protected, Restricted or Cantonment areas, you will have to take special permission from the civil authorities, however it is not guaranteed that you will be allowed to visit.