Is there an easier way I can obtain an e-visa for India?

Q We’re going to India and need an e-visa ASAP. The main government site is so slow and keeps crashing, plus I cannot upload my passport file for some reason from my iPhone. Must I go to London or is there another site that is legitimate?

Rachel B

A It was a welcome step when India finally made e-visas available to British travellers (through the official portal indianvisaonline.gov.in rather than any of the many online scam sites). In theory it means that tourists need not attend in person to get permission to visit. But regrettably the online scheme has demonstrated far more problems than I have seen with the procedures for, say, the US and Turkey.

Multiple travellers have had their plans wrecked by the failure of the online system, often at the passport upload or payment stage. A typical story is that they spend many hours repeatedly inputting the information but finding that their application fails at a crucial moment. A first step is to try a different browser, ideally from a computer rather than a phone. The Indian government says: “This site is best viewed in Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer (Windows) version 9.0 and above.” Apple’s Safari is notable by its absence from that list.

I hope that works for you. But if it fails you could consider going to the India visa centre in London, which is run by the service company VFS Global. The visa fee and service charge totals £120, compared with US$102.50 (£78). If you do apply in person, in my experience appointments are typically available three working days ahead. Applicants are told “Regular Cases may take a minimum of 3 to 5 working days”; in practice, if it is a straightforward case you can expect the visa to be available for collection three working days after you put in the application.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder