We left Bangkok on 13 July. Did not have time to visit the Indian Consulate but it would have done us no good anyway because the visa starts the date of issue, not the date of arrival in India. As US citizens we could obtain a 10-year visa to India, but normally one obtains a 6-month visa and we will be obtaining the 6-month one.
Folks traveling up the western coast of
Malaysia can obtain visas in Kuala Lumpur, but be forewarned that India is also outsourcing that visa handling and it takes several days. We will get ours through the mandatory Travista agency while in the States. That will require a bit of digging on our part because the visa application requires a
government issued document stating the birthplace of the applicant's parents. Hopefully we can locate death certificates for all 4 of our parents to cover this absurd requirement.
I am curious how the Immigration Dept of Thailand has any
legal authority over another country's method of handling visas for their country. This would not involve Thailand Immigration. Foreign citizens obtaining visas for another foreign country, not a Thai visa and not involving a visit to Thailand. But I will take your word that this is what the Immigration Dept of Thailand means about not allowing agents to handle visa applications. I would read their requirement to mean that agents are not allowed to handle Thai visa applications -- which is a totally different scenario.
I do not know if Emotion Travel in Phuket is the correct place today to obtain the Indian visa or not. Our changed plans provide us an alternative to obtain the visa and we will go that
route instead of using the travel agency in Phuket.
Judy