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Indian and Chinese tourists will be able to visit Britain and Ireland on a single visa from today. The scheme was formally launched by British home secretary Theresa May and the Irish minister for justice and equality, Frances Fitzgerald, last October.
According to the said scheme, Indians can apply for their UK or Irish visit visas under the British-Irish Visa Scheme from February 10. This particular scheme enables Indian travelers to visit both countries on the same trip.
"India is a key growth market for both UK and Irish tourism," said Sir James Bevan, the British high commissioner to India. "We hope that more Indian visitors will choose to come to the UK and Ireland as a result of this latest change."
Feilim McLaughlin, Ireland's ambassador to India, said: "India is a priority market for Ireland under the government's trade, tourism and investment strategy."
As part of the scheme, Ireland will share UK's 12 visa application centres across India. Now the applicants willing to have any Irish or UK visa will need to use the shared centres to submit their applications and give their biometrics.
Records show that in the year ending September 2014 over 300,000 visitor visas were issued to Indian nationals and 91% of all Indian customers were successful in their visa applications. Now the transit visitors can have trip from Ireland to Britain and vice versa with single visa.
-Kannamsai
