We are planning to go to India for a couple of months early in the new year. In order to do this we need to get visas prior to travelling. Looks to me that we have maybe two option for this.

1. Use the visa service based out of Madrid which involves sending our passports, photos, application forms by the one and only courier from whom they accept deliveries. This courier SEUR doesn't have an office near where we live and even if they did they sure as hell wouldn't make the trip to our 'non existant' address in the campo to collect it, or deliver it once the visa process is complete.


2. On the face of it the simplest solution is to courier passports, photos, application forms to the folks in the UK who will be arranging our trip. They can get the visa processed against our UK address and send it back to us in Spain once the visa is issued.

Now both of the options mean that we will be living in Spain without access to our passports for a couple of weeks, No way to avoid that.

For simplicity's sake my preference is to go the second route via the UK, but I have read in a couple of places that courier companies, and I guess that we would use MRW as they have local offices may not ship passports abroad.

Not having tried to send anything to an international destination from within Spain I was assuming that I could just enclose all the paperwork in an envelope and off it goes.

Do I have to declare somewhere what documents the envelope contains?..

Our local seur office is 40km away but they have always made arrangements to meet us in our local town as they cannot find our address. In our area they always put me through to an English speaking dispatcher who then has the man in the van on the other line and translates for us, she then always phones back to see if we met up Ok, however this has always been to recieve parcels but it might be worth phoning them up, their website also tracks all their parcels and deliveries.

I think you also ought to be aware (if not already) that it is illegal to apply for a passport in UK whilst living abroad - you MUST do it via Madrid.

We have friends who used Madrid for their passports and did NOT use SEUR - I'm not sure if they didn't just use correos and had them 'signed for'.

Can you not go to where mail is normally delivered to (correos or private company etc.) and send them to Madrid from there? If you normally have mail delivered to your home, then surely you can pop into any correos and send them from there?


Once you have proof of posting, then if you are stopped and asked to show your passport; firstly I would show my residencia and D/L but if they insisted, then I would show them the correos receipt - this should be OK.

Would be quicker to do it in Madrid. We have had visas from there and some have been 2 days return. When we renewed USA ones we had to fly to Madird for interview and leave our passports. They arrived back in Marbella at 4.30 the following day.

Snikpoh, Who's applying for passports, not us... Ours have another 8 years before they expire, although I looks like we will fill them up with visas way before then and have to renew.

This isn't for passport renewal but to have visas to visit India issued and entered into our passports.

The visa agency only accept deliveries via SUER, not the post office, not MRW, not Fedex, no-one but SEUR. Or you can hand them in personally at the offices in Madrid or Bercelona.

Sorry - completely misread your post 'mea culpa'

Just make sure you have certified copies, which really you should have anyway to avoid having to carry them now there is no other form of ID available.

Hi Bob, we are in India now and have been coming here every year for the last eight years. Yes you are correct about applying for your Tourist Visa in Madrid through the visa application service. We did that for some years and SEUR was fine about getting our passports back so I am sure they would even if you live in a remote place in the country. We also went in person to deliver the passport and visa application forms but that was no better than posting them.
We now fly back to the UK where you have to be in order to apply at the HCI in London and we use a Visa service called Prince Visa in London. Its cheaper to apply in England and also the flights are cheaper from there to India. If you allow one or two weeks for the visa to be returned to where you stay in England then it will be OK to book the flights. I book them several months beforehand as they are cheaper still.
The simplest way is to use Madrid...but just make sure you send all the correct documents and pay the fee into their bank account and send the receipt of payment.
Good luck and let us know how you get on.

You must give me some tips of must see places as we are in the process of organising the itinerary now. Whereabouts are you now?

Looking like we had moved on a little since yesterday's posting, then took a huge step backwards just now.

I can use our gestor's address for the sending and return of our passports as she's happy to do that for us.

I found a list of docs required to support the visa application on ARKE's website. Unfortunately it is in Spanish and mine isn't great. It looks like I need to get a Volante de Empadronamiento from the town hall and the minimum period of residency in Spain is 2 years. Unfortunately signed on the padron last year so if the Volante de Empadronamiento is date we are stuffed anyway and have no choice but to send passports back to the UK.

Flights etc will start from the UK as you're right they are cheaper but we have to see the children for a few days each end of the trip.

Maybe we'll go back to Asia.............

Well that sort of answers one of the questions about where to apply but I think you will find you have to be in the UK at the time of application as they may ask to see you at the HCI and they will want a UK phone number. You apply online and pay online if you do not use a Visa Service company.
We are in Goa and use it as a base for our travels here as its India's soft option and a beautiful state.
I would recommend for a first time visit; fly to Mumbai, stay there for a few days and then do the Golden Triangle with Agra and the Taj. It is really a wonder of the world. Spend time in each place rather than trying to do too much and you will meet people and enjoy the culture, the food and the celebrations of Hindu Gods which are many. Then for a break from the hustle and bustle spend a couple of weeks in Goa. Travel by air is cheap and easy but if you use the trains then book beforehand as they can be very busy.
Check your jabs which you can do in Spain. We buy the vaccines over the counter and have them injected at a local clinic.
Travel light and just bring your bank card as there are ATMs but tell your bank first that you are coming.
Register with Locate and then the FCO will know you are here.
Thats enough for one message....

I was going to take the service company approach for getting the visas. So send them what they need. They do the footwork and once finalised courier our passports back to us.

Although we live full time in Spain thanks to the wonders of the Internet we have a UK phone number. But I really don't want to have to go to he UK for the duration of the visa process..

Right now we are looking at a couple of weeks in Rajasthan doing Taj etc, followed by Varanassi then off down to Mumbai, Kerala couple of other places whose name escapes me at the moment then finally a few days chilling in Goa. India is all a bit of a learning curve for us at the moment so we are on the 4th iteration of the itinerary.

Think we have pretty much all the jabs we need as we had to get a bunch for going to SE Asia earlier this year. My wife is in charge of those and will have it in hand.

Locate?

Sounds a good plan Bob..Kerela is also beautiful but take the day time rice boat trip round the backwaters as you will get eaten alive if you take the night time one.
Locate:
https://www.locate.fco.gov.uk/locateportal/
Best of luck..and happy travelling.

Just a quick message Bob as we use Prince Visa Service in London and have done so for several years. They are very helpful and there is a woman there Saadia who will answer any [email protected]