The Indian state of Goa is completely special, and does not look like the rest of the country. The reason for this difference is the long colonization of these places by Portugal. In addition to Christianity, which is now professed by a large percentage of the local population, the metropolis left behind beautiful buildings in the Mudejar style and high standards of service. A fairly tangible touch of Europeanism is felt in our time. How the resort of Goa created the hippies. In the 70s of the last century, “flower children” from the USA and Western Europe came here to take a break from the corrupt civilization and consumer society. As a result, they remained in a tropical paradise forever. A little later, a term appeared for such a life attitude - “downshifting”. It implies the abandonment of a profitable career and a cloudless existence for less money, but without office stress. Indian authorities are faced with a dilemma: to develop a resort or to prevent illegal migration. The output was a document officially called the Temporary Landing Facility / Permit. It is issued to those tourists who fly directly to the state. Do you need a visa for Goa? How to draw it up and how much does it cost? Read about everything in this article.
How to get there
The so-called “arrival visa” is issued only to those tourists who arrive from abroad to Dabolim airport. Temporary Landing Facility cannot be opened on state or water cordons. You can get off board in Dabolim and with a valid Indian visa. How to get to this state? Only from Moscow do several airlines send their planes there. Aeroflot and Transaero - three times a week, Orenair - twice, and VIM-Avia - once every seven days. Travel time for all aircraft is approximately the same - about six and a half hours. As you can see, the choice of air tickets is quite wide, but all the same, in the season (and it lasts almost all year round here, with the exception of June-July), you need to reserve seats on board in advance. A visa to Goa can be opened for Russians through the mediation of travel companies that launch charter flights to Dabolim.
What is Temporary Landing Permit?
Thanks to those CIS tourists who rested on the beaches of Majorda, Cavelossim and Dona Paula in the south of the state or in Morjim, Mandrem and Aguada in the north, there is a myth that you can fly to Goa without first contacting the Embassy of India. Say, it’s like in Turkey or Egypt: you arrive, you go to the window of the border guards, you get a stamp in your passport or stamp, and that’s all. Let's not engage in heated debates about whether a visa to Goa is needed for the Russians, since this is, firstly, a state, not a country. Therefore, the maximum that can be allowed for a tourist from the CIS countries here is a Temporary Entry Permit, which, in fact, is the Temporary Landing Permit. Unfortunately, Russia is not on the list of eight countries whose citizens are granted a visa to India upon arrival. Therefore, such an entry permit does not give complete freedom of action. Therefore, you need to consider all the pros and cons.
What features does the Temporary Residence Permit provide?
If you enter the territory of the state as part of a large group, having bought a ticket from a travel agency, the question "Do you need a visa to Goa" is not for you. All legal formalities will be performed by an intermediary company. But you should know in advance that you have no right to leave the state. Thus, you can forget about excursions to the Taj Mahal mausoleum or the holy city of Varanasi. Only beaches, sun, sea - which in itself is not so little. In addition, a Permit to Stay is given only for up to 14 days, without the right to continue it. A tourist group - as indicated by law, at least four people - must enter on the same day and leave in full force at the same time. At the same time, the senior must indicate the exact route for the tourists. This circumstance should be taken into account for those who wish to travel to Goa on their own.
Procedure for obtaining Temporary Residence Permit
What documents for a "visa to Goa" need to be submitted and to whom? You must contact an Indian tour operator to submit a list of group members (last names and passport numbers) to the State Immigration Service. This should be done no later than a day before departure. Thus, upon arrival, the migration official should already have permission in the computer. You must confirm that the “receiving party” is meeting you. An immigration officer picks up your passports and issues you a Temporary Residence Permit form, which is exchanged back for your documents upon departure. With a TLF / TLP card, you have the right to stay in the state without leaving its limits, up to 14 days.
How much does a Goa visa cost?
By law, a Temporary Residence Permit will cost $ 40. This is a fee to the immigration service and the Indian intermediary. However, in practice, so that there is no “random” error in the list with the spelling of your last name or passport number, you need to pay the host party about $ 100 per person. If you cannot reach the Indian intermediary, it makes sense to turn to the services of Russian travel agencies. They also send fictitious “groups” to Goa, even from two people. Then communication with Indian operators will be their concern. But then the amount of the contribution will increase. The usual fee for Russian travel agencies to open TLF / TLP is 125-180 US dollars. Thus, the question arises of whether a “visa to Goa” is needed if it is possible to open a full-fledged permission to enter the country at the Embassy of India or consular departments?
India (Goa): do I need a visa?
A more democratic way to get to the state’s sunny beaches is to fly to Mumbai, and from there by a super-comfortable bus to the resorts of Goa. For such a trip you need a full-fledged Indian visa. It can be obtained in three ways. The first is a personal appeal to the Embassy of India in Moscow or to the Consulate General of the country in St. Petersburg or Vladivostok. The second way is visa centers. These are accredited intermediaries who conduct interviews themselves and collect documents to open an entry permit. In addition to the consular fee of 1600 rubles per person, they charge a fee for their services - 135 rubles (including for children included in the passport. The third way is to buy a ticket to a travel agency. A visa is included in the package of services. The terms for opening an entry permit depending on its category: Russians need to wait for a tourist visa for about 4 business days, Ukrainians and Belarusians - a week or even a little more. The validity of such a document can be different: from 30 days to 6 months, with a single or multiple entry.
Documents
Like many "countries of rest", India does not torment its potential guests with excessively harsh demands. To open a regular tourist visa, you need a foreign passport, which is valid for another 6 months. You must go to the embassy's website, fill out the questionnaire in English and print it in two copies, affixing the signatures. It is necessary to attach 2 photos of 3.5x4.5 cm, photocopies of round-trip air tickets, all pages of internal and foreign passports to the package of documents. You must also confirm your hotel reservation. I must say that an urgent visa (up to two days) can be opened only through travel agencies. It costs about $ 120.
Issue price
So, do you need a visa to Goa? As you can see, it’s easier to open a regular, full-fledged permission to enter India than to embark on dubious adventures with TLF / TLP registration for the same 130, or even $ 180, through Russian travel agencies. The struggle with downshifting in the country has taken too cruel forms. So that a person who wants to grow old on the tropical coast does not burn his passport, the document is simply taken away, and then a criminal who violates the migration rules is sought. The opening of a quasi-visa to Goa is beneficial only for those who have previously contacted a trusted Indian intermediary (for example, having a vacation with him in previous years), plan not to travel outside the state, and plan to stay in India for up to two weeks.