RESTRICTED AREAS IN INDIA

India is easily accessible to foreigners and there are no major restrictions to visit the country. However certain parts of the country have been declared 'Restricted and Prohibited Areas' due to security reasons and need special permits before these can be visited.

Some of these are extremely beautiful and fascinating places, their remoteness lending them special quality.

The following areas which were restricted till recently have now been entirely opened. This means foreign tourists can now visit these areas without any restricted area permits :-

State of Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam and Darjeeling in State of West Bengal.

Foreign tourists still require restricted area permit to visit the following areas :-

State of Arunachal Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep Islands, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim and certain areas of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.

Restricted area permit can be obtained from the Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi, Indian Mission Abroad, Foreigners Regional Regitration Offices (FRRO) in India, Residence Commissioners of respective State Govenments based in Delhi and Home Commissioners of each state capitals.

Application for restricted area permit has to be made at least 6 weeks in advance.

For Andaman & Nicobar Islands, entry permit can also be obtained from the Chief Immigration Offices at Chennai (Madras), Kolkata (Calcutta) or Port Blair. Restricted area permit for Sikkim, Andaman & Nicobar Islands can also be obtained on the spot.