INB O X YOUR LE T T E R S Star letter
HIDDEN C O STS I was planning a holiday trip to the US in winter and was looking to renew the ESTA documents for my wife (I personally have a visa for the US). I googled ESTA and the top result was a website (
esta-onlinevisas.com) that looked like a US government site. I opened the form, which was a US government form, and filled in my wife’s details. I was expecting to pay US$14 for the ESTA. However, paying with my credit card, I discovered that I was charged US$99 for the ESTA document. I went back to the website and discovered a disclaimer at the bottom of the page saying that this was not an official government website and that they charged US$99 for obtaining the ESTA document via them. I know I should have read the small print on the
22
website. But it looked very much like a US government website so I started to fill in the form not realising I was using a “middleman”. Besides the obvious deception, the website doesn’t provide any service/added value at all for the US$99 charged that I could see. I still had to do all the work myself ! In the end I did receive the ESTA, so the site is not
illegal. However, please beware of these sites and make sure not to be fooled by a website that looks “official”. Meir Malinsky, London
CRUI S E C ONTR OL S I disembarked a cruise ship in Mumbai in April last year, so my wife flew out from the UK to meet me there for a week’s holiday in Rajasthan. I had applied for our Indian tourist visas online. It was a quick and easy process, but the visa application form was particular about through which ports travellers planned to enter and leave the country.
When we presented ourselves at Delhi
airport for our flight home, my wife sailed through, but the immigration officer asked me to wait while he went to the immigration office. I waited and 40 minutes later went to the office to enquire what the problem was. A senior official told me that as I had
STAR P R IZ E
This month’s Star Letter winner will receive a night’s stay with dinner and breakfast for two adults
and two children at Hilton Garden Inn Birmingham Airport (hilton
gardeninn.com).
Please email your letters to talktous@
businesstraveller. com, or write to
us at the address on page 12, and include your full postal address and daytime telephone
number. We
reserve the right to edit letters.
entered India by sea, I could not exit by way of Delhi airport. However, I showed the supervisor the visa that had been emailed to me, which stated that I had been permitted to enter India through one of the 26 (sea, air and land) ports listed, but that “he/she can depart from any of the authorised immigration check posts in India”. Te officer said that the form was incorrect
and that I would need to pay a fine, so I pointed out that the email I had received was a Government of India one and that the Electronic Travel Authorisation I held was printed on its headed paper with a barcode and official registration number. My passport was thus stamped and I was told I could leave. Earlier in January, I entered Marmagao in
Goa by ship and when I presented myself at the airport to depart the following day, the immigration officer summoned two supervisors to inspect my visa and passport. I dug out my ETA and pointed to the sentence that said I may leave by any authorised check post in India. Tey were happy with that, my passport was stamped and I was free to go. It is clear that there is some confusion about
what to do when visitors enter by sea and leave by air, so readers taking a cruise culminating in India should be sure to keep a second hard copy of their Indian ETA on their person in order to prevent delays and the possibility of a fine when departing the country by air. Iain Hay, Helensburgh
T E LL US ABOU T YOUR T R A VE L S AT TAL K T O U S@B U S INE S S T R A VE L L E R . C OM
UP UP AND A STAY
MAR CH 20 19
Hilton Garden Inn Birmingham Airport has landed - providing the best place to eat and relax before or after your journey.
bus ine s s tr a v el ler .c om
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100
