An American investor has slammed India’s e-visa portal, describing it as “comically, profoundly, embarrassingly broken” after encountering unexpected glitches. Raymond Russell was in the middle of applying for a business visa when the website bizarrely started showing a list of the tallest mountains in each Indian state.
The unexpected and amusing glitch prompted Russell to share his experience on social media, highlighting the portal’s unusual mishap.
The American investor wrote in his X post, “Anybody who applies for an e-visa to India knows the website is always comically, profoundly, embarrassingly broken.” He also detailed a range of common issues that many applicants face when navigating India’s e-visa system.
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Russell criticized the portal for feeling outdated, saying it “looks like it was written in 2003.” He added that it often logs applicants out without saving progress, and some payment methods, such as SBI e-pay, fail for foreign users. Many applicants reportedly have to try multiple times before their credit card payments are successfully processed.
“But this is a new one—halfway through the business visa application, it displays a list of the tallest peaks in each Indian state??” he stated.
To illustrate the glitch, Russell shared a screenshot showing the tallest peaks in each Indian state appearing on the e-visa site. He also highlighted other design flaws, noting that applicants are required to list all countries they have visited in the past decade, yet the system limits entries to just 20.
His post quickly went viral, attracting over a million views within 24 hours.
Many Indian users weighed in, suggesting that Americans were experiencing a dose of the frustrations Indians often face when applying for a US visa. Commenters highlighted the extensive documentation required, including salary slips, income tax returns, property records, bank statements, and the DS-160 confirmation form.
“Nah, this should not be fixed. It’ll give people from other countries a taste of how frustrating it is to apply for a visa for Indians to visit their countries. This is not even a fraction of what Indians go through while applying for US/UK/Schengen visas,” one of the X users said.
“You might not know this, but the USA business visa application system is even more antiquated,” another person added.
“I get it. But also try being an Indian and applying for a US visa to understand real pain,” while the other user commented.
“My experience in applying for e-VISA in India has been much more pleasant than applying for my passport renewal in the US..Ever tried dealing with the sassy workers at the USPS?” an X user questioned.