Much to the relief of over 10 lakh tourists visiting Hyderabad every year, the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad might soon have ‘Visa on Arrival’ facilities.
The facility was earlier introduced at New Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata international airports.
While officials are hopeful that the ‘Visa on Arrival’ facility would be introduced at RGIA, they warn that several bottlenecks, such as processing by officials and their training, need to be addressed for it to be a success.
India introduced ‘Visa on Arrival’ facility in 2010 and so far nationals of Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Indonesia, Myanmar, Finland, Vietnam, Philip-pines, Cambodia, Luxem-bourg and Laos can avail of it.
Sources said the state government is actively pursuing the issue since foreign tourists coming to Hyderabad and Chittur districts comprise a significant figure. Besides Hyderabad, airports that will soon get the facility are Bengaluru, Kochi and Goa, the other foreign tourist hubs.
Officials expect the facility to augment tourist flow into the state.
Officials said once they get the go-ahead, forms for getting visas on arrival will be provided in the airlines to save time, counters would be set up to take care of foreign currency exchange, while a trained group of separate immigration officials will be assigned for this purpose exclusively at these international airports.
According to officials, the authorities are also mulling on giving the ‘Visa on Arrival’ facility to nationals from Germany, Russia, France, Spain, Malaysia, Sweden, Denmark and Norway, among others, arriving on educational purposes.