Over 9,000 foreigners got Indian visa on arrival

In October, 1,234 Visas on Arrival (VoAs) were issued to foreign tourists, according to a statement issued here Friday.

The highest number of VoAs were issued to travellers from New Zealand (274), Japan (224), Indonesia (205), Phillippines (186), Singapore (140), Finland (134), Cambodia (27), Vietnam (15), Luxemburg (14) Laos (10) and Myanmar (5).

During January-October, the maximum number of VoAs were issued to the citizens of New Zealand (1,950), Japan (1,899), Indonesia (1,652), Phillipines (1,576), Singapore (1,448), Finland (886), Cambodia (123), Vietnam (100), Myanmar (56), Luxemburg (63) and Laos (13).

The official said the maximum number of visas were issued at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here.

As many as 5,622 visas were issued at the Delhi airport, followed by Mumbai (2,062), Chennai (1,561) and Kolkata (494).

In 2010, over 6,500 foreigners used the scheme to visit India.

The government launched the scheme in January, 2010 for five countries -- Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore. In January, 2011, it was further extended for the citizens of six more countries - Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Laos and Myanmar.