How to visit India, Nepal and Sri Lanka on a single trip
- By
- Aparna Patel
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- 20 Jul, 2023
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UPDATE: As of November 30, 2012 the “2 month” rule has been removed for nationals of all countries EXCEPT Afghanistan, China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan, foreigners of Pakistan and Stateless persons.
Until a few years ago an Indian Multiple Entry Tourist Visa allowed you to exit and re-enter the country with no time restrictions, which made what you’re trying to do easy (I did India -> Nepal -> Tibet -> China -> Pakistan -> India several years ago with no issues at all)
Thankfully when they introduced the “2-month” rule they did consider situations like yours, and it’s fairly easy to get around this restriction. At the time that you APPLY for your visa, you need to specifically request an exception to the 2 month rule, and provide documentation as to why you require an exception – specifically in your case that would be a travel itinerary showing your plans to travel India -> Nepal -> India. When the visa is issued they will annotate it to allow you to re-enter once within the 2 month period.
If you don’t have an itinerary mapped out then now is the time to come up with one. In general you won’t need to follow the itinerary you give them exactly – as long as it’s close then you’ll have no problems.
When I travelled India -> Nepal -> India I had a single entry visa for India. When I got to Nepal, I had to apply for new visa. The Indian embassy in Kathmandu cancelled the one I had (which was still valid for a short time) and issued me a new one. In fact, the only reason I went to Nepal was to stay longer in India.
Getting an Indian visa in Nepal was (is?) a painful process, so I’m not sure that I recommend this but it is an option.
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘