I was planning to fly to India today, but my Indian e-visa was not processed in time to go

I usually fly to India about 2 times a year to visit factories we work with for one of our family businesses. For the last two months I have been making all my airline and hotel reservations and submitted all my visa applications to the Indian government. For the last month I have been waiting for my India e-visa from the India website. The India visa website is a torture chamber that takes hours upon hours to fill out data and download pictures only to find it locks up every 15 minutes and kicks you out. Last night alone I filled out more than 100 CAPTCHA codes on the India e-visa website to verify I was a real person. Then after spending 2 hours trying to pay the $100 fee to process a new replacement visa application the payment system locked up and kicked me out again. Trying to call the support desk is a great way to waste 5 hours and still no one answers. After trying for 30 days to get my e-visa I decided to give up. I cancelled my flight to Delhi today and hope to warn anyone wanting to go to India that they better have more patience than I have or be willing to see your blood pressure spike up through the atmosphere.

You will not believe this! Here are all the things required for me to visit India.

• Valid Passport
• India Visa
• Self-declaration form (to present upon arrival)
• Vaccination card or COVID test taken within 72 hours of arrival
• Passport photos for your visa
• Photo of your passport for your visa
• Photo of your business card for your visa
• Invitation letter from the people you are visiting in India.
• Airline reservations, hotel reservations.
• Proof of reservation for return flight upon arrival
• Vaccinations for Hepatitis A, Flu, Pneumonia, Yellow fever, Typhoid, Tdap and others (If you want to live after returning from your visit)
• Malaria tablets taken every day
• Azithromycin tablets for diarrhea
• Face masks during travel and upon arrival
• Lots of Pepto Bismol

Doesn’t this sound FUN?!

I think it might be easier to fly to the moon than jump through all these requirements!

After writing all these things down I think I need to have my head examined for even considering going to India again.  Don’t get me wrong. The people of India are some of the finest people in the world. It has just become too much of a hassle to visit the country. There are thousands of countries around the world offering open arms for visitors without all the hassle.

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