Tips on applying an India Visa as a Singaporean

October 21, 2016 Ann Martijn 0 Posts, Reviews, Travels,

A Singapore passport allows us to travel abroad to almost every part of the world Visa-free that includes countries like Cuba, Ghana, Mongolia and even North Korea. One of the things that we could not understand is that we have to apply a Visa to visit India, one of our biggest trade partners.

Applying for an Indian Visa in Singapore got us stressed out even before we step foot on the subcontinent.
Sharing our India Visa experience, it will be one of those things that will always stay in our memories.

To save you some hassle, below are some of the tips to guide through your application.

Our Number 1 tip 🙂

Apply for the Visa online and do it way in advance. It saves you all the heartache and trips to and fro the High Commission India agent office, BLS International Services S Pte Ltd if anything goes wrong or they require you to make changes to your application.

Apply for your Visa at this Link.

Trust us, a lot of things can go wrong!

Sufficient time

If you prefer to do it manually, do plan your schedule ahead of time. Preferably, 2 weeks before your flight.
If you would like to seek some help and not too sure how to go about applying for Indian visa, head down to Mustafa Centre and the travel agents will get it sorted for you but of course at an extra charge.

As for us we got our visa done on our own, to save a little bit of money.

Here are the a few details about BLS International. This is the only service provider that processes your India Visa documentation in Singapore.

They have 2 offices:

Anson Road

BLS International Services S Pte Ltd
Unit 30 – 08, International Plaza
10 Anson Road
Singapore 079903
Call Centre Number +6531635611

Little India

BLS International Services S Pte Ltd
Unit 14 – 02/04/05
Sim Lim Tower
10 Jalan Besar
Singapore 208787
Call Centre Number +6531635611

Do take note of the following to save your precious time at their office.

Passport Photo: It has to be different from the photo in your passport. According to their website, your photo has to be square or equal dimensions. You can try Instagram but we do not think it will work. 😛 It is best to take the photo at the office itself. There is a booth that provides this service so that you can never go wrong with the dimensions of the photo.
Fill up the online application form and print it out. It is a very long form. Questions like your family history, military experiences, occupation, hotel and office addresses are a mandatory component to be filled.
Have your hotel address in India ready. If you don’t have any, find one on Google or come up with one.
Opening hours: Mondays-Fridays, 9 am to 3.45 pm. (timings when we all are at work) They do not entertain latecomers. Seriously!

Be Prompt

Upon confirmation, an SMS will be sent to inform you that they have received your application. Once everything is proper, you are ready to collect your Passport as well as your Visa.

In my case, I had to go down to BLS office to get my passport photo changed. That caused a delay in my visa.
So if they call you to go down to change anything, in the words of Russell Peters,

“Take it and GO!”

Patience

Patience. Have loads of it. Like we said earlier, a lot of things can go wrong. We have experienced it first hand, twice! From running to both locations in 1 day to hearing people quarrelling at the office. Surprisingly, the personnel there are calm and friendly.

There was a lady who has been there for the past 7 days but she still has not received her Visa. She just shook her head from side to side and sigh.

It was truly a memorable experience we would not like to experience again. All in all, keep your expectations low. Patience is everything even before you step foot in India.

So have an open mind, enjoy the journey and I bet you will have an adventure of a lifetime.