Crossing Pakistan - India land border with e-visa
 

Hi folks,
I am overlanding in my own vehicle across Central Asia at the moment (currently in Kyrgyzstan) towards India and my paper tourist visa application at the India Embassy in Bishkek was refused (they said I should apply in Islamabad). I have also heard from fellow travellers that paper tourist visa applications in Islamabad have started being refused within the last few weeks.
I am now considering abandoning the paper visa option and going down the e-visa route. I understand that I need to fly to India first to 'activate' it, after which it essentially becomes a paper visa and can then be used for future entries into India via land (in my case I will be crossing the Wagah land border from Pakistan). I will be in Tashkent in the next few weeks and there are very cheap flights to India, which I am happy to go for. I just need to be 100% sure that this option will work.
Has anyone here attempted to enter India via a land border using an e-visa that was previously activated by a previous entry into India by air? If so, I would absolutely love to hear from you.

I hope to see some replies with confirmation. I've been investigating this for a month or two and details are unclear; I actually have emails from two different Consulates giving me conflicting information. I too have heard rumours that the e-visa can be used after a first entry by air; I have yet to see any confirmation of this, so am interested in the answers.

I finally tracked down a consultant who was clear and inspired confidence and who told me that a paper visa is required, that it must be acquired in my country of residence, and that the e-visa may be used only for entry at designated airports and seaports.

I have found that the consulates in Nepal and Bhutan expressly state that paper visas will not be issued to non-residents. However I found that the Indian HC in Pakistan does say "Visa applications of non-resident foreign nationals will be entertained for short term Tourist visa (3 month/ single entry) only subject to fulfilment of all criteria. They are advised to obtain long term Tourist visas and other categories of visas from the country of their origin."

I notice that the HC doesn't list a Tourist visa in the visa types for which one can apply (!?) and no other visa type fits our needs. However... there's a statement that "Tourists who plan to enter by Wagah Border on a motorcycle or car tour may also submit supporting documents/ proof related to their travel by these means.". So apparently this is possible, however there's no clarity on what visa is required.

Furthermore there's a statement that "All previous passports should be attached" - in my case this would be 70 years of passports, with decades during which I've had more than one at a time! Fortunately, I have a current Indian e-visa which negates this requirement, although it does make things difficult because I cannot apply for a paper visa at home, without flying back home from India and waiting for a month for the new visa.

Clear and consistent information is sparse - I hope we can get some clarity.

I looked more deeply into the information on the Indian Islamabad HC website - https://india.org.pk/pages.php?id=115 = there's a lot of good information. Key points for me - single entry tourist visa for 90 days only, which will not work for us. 10 day processing time. Need a "good" letter explaining why we didn't apply in our home location HC/Consulate. Might work for you though.

Not sure if you guys have seen these threads or other similar ones.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi...isa-India.html

https://caravanistan.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13088

If it hasn't already been tried perhaps contacting the poster on caravanistan might be helpful, as that report is fairly recent. From my own experience I am pretty sure it is possible to cross to and from Nepal by land after the e-visa is "activated" by first entering by air. I haven't personally done it but from previous trips it was commonly mentioned by other travellers as being possible. Perhaps the Wagah border has different rules, but very hard to confirm that as so few people seem to do this. Also sounds like the Indian embassy in Pakistan may have some experience with this and the comment about including your reason for needing the visa along with the application sounds re-assuring.

I'll be making this crossing (PAK->IND @Wagah) at the end of September, applying for the visa in Islamabad in about a week. Will post my experience here,

I look forward to hearing your experience.

My visa for India was denied, no reason given (goodbye USD$250...)

Moving on to the eVisa option.

Sorry to hear it. Good luck - I suggest you prepare a "plan B".

India EVisa applied for (5 year, multi-entry) & received in 12 hours.
Booked flight from Lahore to Dubai, then Dubai to Amritsar, stamped in to India. Taxi to the border, stamp out of India & into Pakistan, taxi to Lahore.
So far, so good. When I get the vehicle permit extension from Islamabad, I'll be able to enter India with my moto. Will report back with results.

Crossed the border, Pakistan->India at Wagah, with eVisa, no issues at all.

Good to hear this.

If I understand correctly, this was your second entry into India on the e-visa, the first having been by air?

Enjoy India! What are you plans? We plan to be in Mumbai in January, then head south, later to Nepal/Bhutan/Tibet, then Pakistan, then back to India for the Northwest, Northwest, and Centre with a break in Bangladesh (to comply with the 90 day maximum requirement) and ending up in Sri Lanka early 2026.

That's excellent news!

If anyone is interested, the "e-visa activation" mentioned at certain entry points only is where Indian immigration has cameras and fingerprint scanners to capture your biometric details.

Fwiw, earlier this year I flew to India with a (multiple entry) e-visa, borrowed a bike, rode to Nepal and then re-entered India on the bike.

PS. If entering or leaving India at an airport, or transiting for an internal flight, put your regular GPS, even if it's only an mid-noughties steam driven Garmin 60csx, in your hold/ check-in luggage, not hand/ carry on. Unless you want it confiscated!

Indian airport security are singularly unique in their "outlook", euphemistically speaking (not talking about satellite comms devices like a Garmin inReach, that are specifically banned in India).

Thanks for the advice - it's going to be tough with hand luggage only : )

Can anyone share the rules on this? I've been unable to find anything useful on what's actually allowed. You can buy GPS units in India so apparently they're legal, however there seem to be restrictions on flying with them.

Countries, according to Garmin, where their inReach satellite communications devices are restricted:
https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?fa...fRAhtToGD4Yrz9

I had the Garmin 60csx GPS situation I describe above at security at Delhi when connecting to an internal flight to Bangalore (From Europe to Delhi was of course no problem. Why would it be? Nowhere else is. Only India) and checking into an international flight Delhi to Istanbul.

In the Bangalore flight situation I explained and explained, showed them the specs from the Garmin website and that every cell phone had navigation capabilities. They relented and let me travel with it (actually 2, I use one and the other is a spare). Took an hour of explaining everything multiple times to the multiple idiots.

On the Istanbul flight there was no way the boss man was budging. My carry on buggage was way over what I was allowed. They called an airline employee who came to the other side of security from check-in and took the MX boots I was wearing, a bag that was in my bike jacket sleeve and the 2 GPSs and checked them in for me. Security didn't care about the volume of hand luggage I was carrying/ wearing. The GPSs were the problem. The GPSs went in the boots and the boots into the bag.

They did arrive at Istanbul along with my main check-in bag. Had that stunt not been possible, they'd have been confiscated at Delhi.

Whatever the Indian rules are is kind of irrelevant. It depends on the inbred knuckle draggers who work at airport security... In the hold bag on plane ok. In cabin on plane not ok.

Thanks for taking the time to explain the situation you experienced.

I'm aware of the restrictions on InReach (and have no intention of taking one (don't have one anyway)).

So, in Bangalore were you allowed to take the GPS units as hand baggage or did you have to check them?

We will have no luggage to check, however if it makes it easier/possible we might just get a cardboard box to check them - obviously we'd prefer not to check anything.

I'm aware of the draconian style of security checks in India. Good news however that you found a solution both in Bangalore and Delhi.