Bolivia Visa for Indian Citizens (from Santiago, Chile) AND Visa on Arrival for Indian Citizens

Indian citizens/ passport holders will be pleasantly surprised to discover that Bolivia is a very easy country to enter. If you are an Indian passport holder like us, you will know the pain of independent travel which is taken for granted by other backpackers. I hope that this post will encourage you to visit the beautiful country of Bolivia.  The next time we travel to South America, we will definitely visit Bolivia, if only to endorse their hassle free visa policy.

Bolivia has visa on arrival for a fee (please verify the latest fee by calling La Paz airport) AND offers a FREE visa at its consulates world wide.

We obtained our Bolivia visa at the embassy in Santiago, Chile not once but TWICE. Once before our passports were stolen and once more with our new passports. On both occasions, our experience at the Bolivian embassy was quick, pleasant and smooth.

Documents Required

Documents produced during our first visit:

·         Completed application form

·         Copy of yellow fever certificate

·         Copy of most recent bank statement

·         Cost = Free!! (remember, Americans pay $140)

·         Overall time taken: 20 minutes

·         Questions asked: None

This was the most incredibly hassle free visa experience in our life. I couldn't believe my eyes when the consul guy just proceeded to stamp my passport within minutes of producing our document, and with a smile. We were told that extension is possible in Bolivia and is easy to do.

Losing the visa and getting it again

Unfortunately, fate would soon have its way with us and we would end up using our most important belongings in Calama, Chile. We had to return to Santiago to receive a new passport from the Indian embassy. So we went to the Bolivian embassy once again. This time, we told the consul officer about our loss and were greeted with disbelief. He pointed us to a young Bolivian lady present there and said to us "It will take her two months to get a new passport if she loses hers. You guys are lucky."

We were able to provide most of our documents, except the yellow fever certificate, which was also stolen. These guys were awesome though - they patiently dug through their records and found our previous visa and made us several copies of our yellow fever certificates.

Bolivia Visa on Arrival at the border (overland between San Pedro de Atacama and Uyuni) - a different experience

Bolivia does offer visa on arrival for Indians, but for a fee. If you are landing at La Paz airport, this is a great option. But if you are overlanding, getting it from a consulate is really easy and preferable any day.

I traveled with an Indian guy from Chile to Bolivia near San Pedro de Atacama. So I wanted to write about his visa on arrival experience to enter Bolivia. I already had a Bolivia visa from Santiago, so my case was very straight forward.

This person was only going to Bolivia on a four day guided tour and was returning to Chile at the end of it, so this experience may not apply to everyone. We all booked the tour in San Pedro and I was going to continue to stay in Bolivia. All the tour operators in San Pedro will tell you that you can get visa at the border and show you a chart that says how much the visa costs. According to the chart, it costs $30 for us. So, at the border, this Indian guy was told that they cannot issue the visa there and that he would have to get it at Uyuni (the nearest city to the border). They did not stamp his passport. At Uyuni, he goes to the Migracion office and asks them for visa. They say that he can pay the fee and they only give him a stamped tourist card for 4 days. They don't stamp his passport. They take the $30 and there is absolutely no receipt for it. At the end of four days, they let him get out without another stamp. We all think that this is a quick way to make an undocumented $30 and that this has happened before. Spanish was a big problem here and no one spoke English, so I guess if he insisted and knew how to, he would have had a proper visa on his passport at the border or at Uyuni. This border is nothing more than a small shed in the middle of nowhere, so I am not surprised that they did not have the facilities to issue a visa.

So yes, Bolivia VOA at border is definitely possible. However,

• Please be sure you get your passport & your tourist card (a little form you fill out at the entrance) stamped and a receipt for your fee. Be persistent!
• We have been asked elsewhere in Bolivia by Migracion people to show our passports (they do random checks in hotels) and they look for all these stamps.
• Write out some important statements in Spanish to use at the border (important)
• If you are part of a tour group, ensure you communicate this to your tour guide at the destination. They will be an important resource in helping you with communication.

The Colombia - Ecuador border crossing

We were really excited about our first border crossing by land. The Colombia - Ecuador border is basically a bridge that spans a river, with Colombia on one side and Ecuador on the order. La Frontera or Rumichacha, as its called is a bustling place. In fact, earlier in the day when we took a taxi to a nearby church in Colombia, the taxi driver dropped us off at the frontera instead of the church, past the Colombian immigration! I had a few stress filled moments there while we took the taxi back into Colombia!

Anyway, people are free to cross the border and though there is a lot of police activity, the onus is on you to get stamped in and out. So we first went to the Colombian immigration building, stood in a long line, got our exit stamp and then walked across the bridge.

The border bridge, a beehive of activity:

Entering Ecuadorian immigration, the building on the other side of the road:

A jubilant Swami after getting our Ecuador visa.

Ecuador - no visa needed for Indian citizens

Citizens of any nationality do not need a visa to enter Ecuador for tourism or business up to 90 days. Knowing this, we confidently walked across the border, even though I wasn't expecting it to be a smooth crossing. We were not disappointed. Our Indian passports caused quite a bit of confusion amongst the immigration officials. It was waved around, pointed at and conferred upon for about 45 minutes. Clearly, they have never seen one before.

I was getting a little tense, but when the border officer told me that I need a tourist visa for entering, I wasn't about to give up so easily. I mustered up my most confident and firm tone and told him that  I spoke to my embassy and was told we do not need a visa. This led to more conferencing - at one point, ALL the immigration officials left their counters to go to a back room to talk about our case. I actually found this a bit comical. I should have been stressed, but I had come prepared with the Indian embassy's phone number and was going to call them if it came to that. Swami was waiting as his officer decided to whatever was being done to my passport, so he was trying to use the 3G on our Kindle to get some solid proof about no-visa-policy.

At one point, our passport was literally bandied about between two immigration officers - they simply didn't want to take on the hassle. They caught me looking at them doing this and gave me what I can only call a sheepish grin. I grinned back at them and felt a weight being lifted off my shoulders then. I just knew that they wouldn't leave us in the lurch at that moment. In fact, my immigration guy (that's what I'll call him) was a really patient fellow. He made so many phone calls to find out what he should do. He told me a couple of times that I need a visa, but I never backed down. Eventually he must have gotten the green signal, so he stamped us immediately without asking a single question.

Its a pity that word of the new legislation about visa free travel did not reach these guys at all. I can only hope that we have paved the way for the next Indian traveler who comes this way. Don't disappoint me friends! (Ecuador and Colombia are amazing places to travel, by the way).

We were thrilled to bits to when we got stamped in. Giggling like idiots, we took pictures with our passports outside the building. Getting into Otovalo from there was a piece of cake. 

Crossing the Colombia - Ecuador border

• From the lovely colonial city of Popayan, get to the town of Ipiales. The bus journey takes 6-8 hours. Stay at Hotel Metropol, which is right across from the bus terminal.
• Ask the restaurant in Hotel Metropol if they have "lenteja" - if you're lucky, you can get rice, lentil stew and juice and salad (for the vegetarians).
• Stay at the Hotel Metropol for COP25000 per night.
• Next morning, get breakfast in one of the many restaurants nearby and take a collectivo to the border - La Frontera or Rumichaca. COP1500.
• Cross the border - get exit stamp in Colombia without fail. Get stamped into Ecuador.
• Get a collectivo from the Ecuadorian side to the city of Tulcan. [Tulcan has a Govinda's, if you're so inclined].
• From Tulcan, buses to Otavalo cost $4 pp. There are many of them. Snacks and water are readily available everywhere.
• Buses to Otavalo will drop you off on the Panamericana, from there a 10 minute walk will get you to the center of the town.

Colombia Tourist Visa For Indian Citizens (San Francisco Embassy)

When I first looked at the visa requirements for the Colombia tourist visa for Indian passport holders, I was baffled. They seemed to ask for two of each document. I ended up carrying a LOT of paper to San Francisco that day. Thankfully, I think they meant one for each applicant. We had gone to their office while waiting for our Peru visa, so we knew all the details beforehand and went thoroughly prepared.

We were in and out of the consulate in 20 minutes! The visa will be ready in one week, we were told by a very friendly lady who works there. She said she was the only one in the office right now, so its taking her time. We told her about our six-country plan and she agreed to try to expedite the process. She also told us that a lot of Indians have been visiting the consulate to get visas.

Documents we took for EACH applicant

• Application form
• original passport
• $95/person (apparently its $100 for non-Indians). Still steep!
• 2 photographs
• bank statements
• US visa copy
• Airline reservation (and date of exit from Colombia)
• Hotel reservation

The consulate is at 595 Market street. There is a chipotle and peets coffe shop (next building). Security guard will check your ID and let you in at the ground floor. There is a paid underground parking garage in the Red Cross building, at 2nd and Mission Street. From the garage, the consulate is a 5 minute walk away.

UPDATE:
After waiting for 3-4 business days, I was getting anxious not having heard from them. We called repeatedly, but were not able to reach them or get a status update. So exactly a week after submitting our docs, I showed up at the consulate and thankfully, the visas were ready. The same lady greeted me, and remembered who I was and didnt even ask for my receipt. Only one of us needed to go to get both passports.

On to Argentina now!

Peru Tourist Visa for Indian Citizens (From San Francisco Consulate)

I knew six friends who recently obtained Peru tourist visas. So armed with the knowledge of their experiences, we went to the Peru consulate around 9.45 AM. You pick a number as soon as you enter, but the number doesn't seem to bear any significance. Someone from the closed office area will walk to the waiting room and talk to you randomly.

It seems like we caught them on a busy morning, so after waiting for a while, they asked us to leave our documents and passports and come back at 1. I asked them if I could give them the passports later as I wanted to make color copies of all pages to drop off at the Chile consulate next door (more here) and the young guy who took our papers agreed.

We returned at 1 pm after lunch and had to wait for some more time. If the door to the office area opens, immediately stand up and walk towards it, and try to attract someone's attention. Eventually we were noticed and our application was picked up by an older lady who seemed senior. She also took a lot of help from Swami during our visit in the morning to fix her computer troubles (that didn't seem to win us any favor though).

The next hour and a half was like living in a slow motion picture on a very laid back island. The lady re-typed our application form on the computer and had a fit when we told her that we plan to stay in Peru for a month without any air tickets (in or out).

"You're going by bus? From Bolivia?" (with shocked expression)

"Yes, but from Ecuador", I said with resignation. Swami has trouble with Ecuador and Bolivia and interchanges them again and again and I just give up.

"Where are your tickets?"

"We dont have bus tickets yet. We plan to get them as we go. But look, we have air tickets in and out South America."

"But what about Peru?"

"Not for Peru. In to Bogota and out of Buenos Aires." Sigh! This was getting really tiring.

"This is Bogota, not Peru. What will you do in Peru for one month?"

"We'll hike the huayhuash circuit and the inca trail". Twice, I almost said.

"Dont you have a job? How will you afford four months?"

This is when we show our bank statement. She looks at a random figure on my salary statement which says $323.50 and goes "Thats all?" How on earth am I supposed to travel with $323.50? I show her the bank statement. Arent they supposed to be reading bank statements all the time?

Finally, after showing the money, she says "$60". I am just thrilled that its over.

Now we get finger printed, thumb impression-ed and photographed and finally step out of the consulate with our visas at 2.30 PM.

Documents to take for EACH applicant:

• Original passport
• Application Form
• Bank Statement
• (dont give unless asked) Pay statement . It might be mistaken for a bank statement and someone might think your 15 day salary is your bank balance. Or horror, they might think your 401K contribution is your bank balance. Keep it away.
• $30 per visa in cash
• copy of US visa
• hostel reservation (we booked for one day in Cuzco)
• airline reservation
• (not asked) photograph

Consulate is at 870 Market Street. Fedex is at 726 Market street for last minute tech/copy needs. Bank of America ATM is at the corner of Market and 4th street.  Form and visa requirements. 

Our South America Visa Experiences - part 1

A good thing about San Francisco is that the three South American consulates of Chile, Colombia and Peru are within blocks from each other. In fact, Chile and Peru consulates are on the same floor of the same building. Colombia is about three blocks away.

So with a good plan and a great bit of luck, its possible to apply for all three visas on the same day. We came very very close, but due to unnecessary delays that plagued us during the day, we were only able to get Chile and Peru done.

Addresses:

• Chile and Peru Consulate: 870 Market Street, 10th Floor. Easy to get in and get out.
• Colombia: 595 Market Street. Security at gate and need to show ID's - so factor in 5 minutes. 
• Fedex Office Supplies: 726 Market Street, for last minute copies/printouts etc. Very convenient.

We took the train from Sunnyvale to SF and then a cab to the Peru/Chile consulate on Market street. We reached around 9 AM. The consulates are located in the Flood Building on Market street, San Francisco.

• We decided to go to the Chile consulate first as we'd heard from a friend that they dont need your passport to process your application. We submitted our paperwork. Visa would be stamped on passport after 2-4 weeks. They asked for all copies of the passport, so I had to make a trip to Fedex store and back for passport photos.
• Next was the Peru consulate. Things were very slow here on that day. So we submitted the passport and docs and were asked to come again at 1 PM. When we went back 1 PM, we were out the door with the visa by 2.30 PM. Tip: if they ask you to come back by 1 PM, go earlier. If they see you there, they may get started earlier. Go armed with a book, snacks and infinite patience.
• We missed the Colombian consulate because they had closed at 2 PM. But we did walk down there when our passport was stuck with the Peruvians to find out what documents were required. A very sweet lady at the consulate quickly told us what we needed and asked to deliver documents anywhere between 9 AM and 2 PM. We returned the following day again and submitted all our documents and original passport.

How to hit all 3 in one go:

If I had to repeat the day, this would have been our best-case scenario:

• Arrive at Chilean consulate at 8.30 AM. Make sure you have copies of ALL pages of your passport (color copies of the non empty ones). Drop off documents at Chilean consulate.
• Go to Peru consulate at 9 AM. Hope the stars are shining bright for you - if your lucky, someone will quickly do your stuff for you and you'll walk out with visa by 11 AM.
• Walk the four blocks to Colombian consulate and drop off papers and passport there.

Tourist Visas To Travel In South America For Indian Citizens

Every Indian citizen who has traveled abroad is familiar with the travails of obtaining a visa to visit most countries in the world. This is true for South America too. When Swami and I first planned our trip, we were caught in the spirit of wanderlust inspired by scores of other travel bloggers. But of course, most of these travel bloggers came from 'western' countries, or countries whose citizens enjoy the freedom to travel to most places in the world without a visa. The reality came crashing down upon us in the last few weeks and I've been prowling the net for accounts by fellow Indians.

The deluge of paperwork, formalities, consular interviews that are more befitting a court of law, the time, money and effort spent in going to consulates can drive anyone insane. And to make things worse, the internet doesnt have a whole lot of information about other people's experiences. Its surely something to bemoan about, but we must consider ourselves fortunate to be able to travel this way in the first place, so we try to take it in stride and do the best we can.

As our date of travel approaches (Dec 4th, 2011), the need for prompt and efficient action is imminent where visas are concerned. Overnight, our living room starts to look like the command central of a records office.  Timing is key. If you get your visas too early, there may be a rule requiring that we enter within 90 days. If you get it too late, then you risk not getting the visa at all. How is one to plan an independent backpacking trip then? Can such a trip still be considered to be in the "its-all-up-in-the-air" variety?

The good news is, my searches on the internet for accounts by similar people have not been futile. There is a great thread on the lonely planet thorntree forums that sees active participation from highly spirited, perseverant and inspiring folks who dont give up in the face of absurd visa rules and regulations that require you to use up the trees! I have also come across some Indian travel bloggers.

So now, I will be adding to that pool of information. I went to SF today and visited the Peru, Chile and Colombian consulate in San Francisco (all blessedly within 5 blocks of each other - 2 in the same building on the same floor) and will publish detailed posts about my experiences at each consulate.