The visa for Bolivia was the easiest one to get in all my travels around the world. (well save for those countries that do not require a visa at all)
We applied for my visa to Bolivia in Cusco, Peru. Normally when you apply for a visa outside your country of residence you need to go through hell and high water just to prove that you’re not up to something funny. Not with the Bolivians, they get a A+ for being really cool! The process itself was really simple.
We called the consulate in Cusco and were told to bring along the following documents:
- Passport + 1 copy of the front and back
- 1 Passport size photograph
- An itinerary for travel within Bolivia (basically a word document that I wrote about when and where we are planning to go)
- A copy of a credit card
- Hotel reservations for the first point of stay in Bolivia (only for the first place we would be visiting)
Excellent! So armed with all these documents, we headed to the consulate in Cusco. We took a 4 sole (~ USD 1.5) taxi ride to the consulate. The lady at the reception was really nice and asked me to fill out some forms while she went inside with my passport. I wasn’t done filling the forms by the time she got back, but the visa was already stamped in my passport!
How nice! The visa for Bolivia is free for Indian citizens and I got a 30 day visa in less than 5 minutes! Excellent! Can’t wait to see the Salar de Uyuni! Bolivia, HERE WE COME! :)
Note: It is also possible for Indians to get visa on arrival at La Paz airport. We had spoken to the airport officials in March 2012 and were informed that the visa on arrival costs USD 55. However, since we were doing a land crossing we decided to get the visa in advance as it is free and takes barely 5 minutes to get.