NEW DELHI: India has introduced Tourist Visa on Arrival for tourists from five countries — Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore. A statement by the Ministry of External Affairs here today read that bonafide tourists from these countries who plan their tours at short notice will be able to procure “Tourist Visa-on-Arrival” for a period of one year with effect from Friday.

Tourists from the said countries can also procure their visas from Indian missions and posts in the normal course. The MEA has also made it clear that Tourist Visa-on-Arrival with a maximum validity of 30 days with single entry facility will be granted by immigration officers at major points of entry like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata airports to start with.

In response to a query as to whether the restriction of two months gap for re-entering India is applicable to persons of Indian origin (PIOs) and overseas citizens of India (OCI), card holders and foreigners holding business, employment, student and other categories of visa, MEA spokesperson Vishnu Prakash clarified the gap of two months applies to tourist visa holders only. The Ministry of Home Affairs introduced the new guidelines recently.