In an significant development, the Government of India on Wednesday cleared two initiatives, visa on arrival and electronic travel authorization for travelers originating from almost anywhere on the globe. For all those travellers who have had the unique pleasure of attending their local visa office in North America and spending a good portion of their day standing in line waiting to submit their visa application documents – only to then be refused for the most minor of errors (photo on the wrong kind of paper or with the wrong background, not enough of the should ers in the photograph, too much of the shoulders in the photograph, minor typo on the form, etc., etc…)

To be implemented from early October 2014, the electronic travel authorization process will allow foreign travelers to apply for a visa from home and receive an online confirmation in five working days, and to then obtain their actual visa upon their arrival at the airport in India. And this visa-on-arrival with electronic travel authorization will be available to citizens of 180 countries (including Canada and the USA) and will be implemented initially at nine airports including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Cochin, Hyderabad, Goa and Trivandrum.