Flights and visas

Each field-schooler makes his or her own flight arrangements ensuring s/he/they arrives on the days noted. You are encouraged to connect with your field school peers and to travel to India in small groups with other field schoolers, for both support and travel company. It takes about 24 hours, a dozen time zone changes, and two lengthy flights.

Each small group will be picked up at the airport by our travel agency and brought to our hotel. It doesn’t matter which major carrier you use. In the past, some students have connected to Delhi through Japan or China on Air Nippon or Air China, at a reasonable cost. Due to coronavirus issues, please do not route through China. The majority have flown east and connected through Europe on a range of airlines including Jet Airways, Air Canada, KLM, Lufthansa, United etc. Some flights route through Toronto. Take some time in fall 2019 to investigate the various options and share your ‘finds’ with other field schoolers.

When should I buy my plane ticket and travel insurance for India?

We recommend you wait until February 2020 to buy a ticket, but if you wish to proceed earlier, that too is fine. When you do purchase a ticket, we strongly recommend buying trip cancellation/interruption insurance as a precaution should there be unforeseen problems. You will also require travel medical insurance for your entire stay in India and/or a second country you travel to before or after. It should only be a few dollars a day at most. Airline-arranged travel insurance is often more costly than insurance you arrange yourself directly through companies like Blue Cross, AMA or through a website such as kanetix.ca. Your family may also have insurance that can be extended to cover travel. So check before you buy.

Note that full medical insurance is required, and you will need to complete a form for MRU confirming that you have insurance.

What about passport and visa(s)?

You will require a valid Canadian passport with an expiration date falling after January 1st, 2021. If your current passport expires anytime prior to January 2021, you should have it renewed by January 2020, before our travel dates in May 2020. We require your passport number for our travel agent for train bookings.

You will also require an e-tourist visa to visit India, and you may also require a visa for other countries you plan to visit around our time in India. Print off a few copies of your visa and passport and any other critical documentation.

How do I obtain an e-Tourist visa?

With a visit to Canada in April 2015 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi India relaxed the process for Canadians wishing to obtain a visa. e-Tourism visas are good for 30 days, 1 year, or 5 years. They permit double entry. Because it is impossible for us to know the length of visa you will require, and whether you will need a double-entry option, we will provide a brief synopsis of your options for obtaining a visa in this guide and for reference, but we will also discuss this issue during our pre-planning meetings.

This is the official Indian government site that issues tourist e-visas. We have had good luck using this service for e-visas. For a 30-day visa, you may apply a month in advance of your arrival in India. When applying for a 1-year visa, you may apply 120 days in advance of your arrival.

When prompted for a name and address in India, please use our travel agent’s name and address:
Naresh Mahra
Sanoli India Tours
8 CSC Suvidha Market, Netaji Nagar, New Delhi 110023
E-mail : naresh@sanoliindiatours.com

Field Schoolers have typically received their electronic e-tourist visas within 3 days of applying online. When approved, go back into the website and print off a proper PDF of your e-tourism visa which includes your photo. You will need this to gain entry to the country. Printing the confirmation is not enough.

https://blsindia-canada.com/touristvisa.php – this service accepts hard copy application forms by mail by courier or in person at its Calgary NE office, address Unit 928 – 5075 , Falconridge Blvd North East Calgary, AB- T3J 3K9, ph: 403 351 5428. To apply in person you need complete the visa application form, submit it, print it and take the copy with your passport, possibly 1 more identification piece, and your debit card to the Calgary office. (Please review instructions independently prior to going.) Or you mail it according to instructions the service provides online, which requires that you mail your passport to Vancouver.

Best advice is to familiarize yourself with the visa process, which requires additional information from travelers with family connections to Pakistan, Sri Lanka and a number of other Asian countries, and we can discuss in the months ahead, the best option for each of you.

Travel & health insurance

All participants are required to confirm, by completing a required MRU insurance form, that they have arranged to have comprehensive out-of-country health insurance for trip including the dates of the field school, and for any other travel days you undertake before or after the field school.