Travel

How to Read Uber Receipt or OLA Bill, Surge Pricing, App Download: On-demand taxi aggregators such as Uber and Ola Cabs exist. Taxi aggregators usually do not own cabs or employ drivers; instead, they connect consumers with drivers via a digital platform, with the customer’s front-end often being an app. The benefit of employing them is that you won’t have to haggle with drivers, especially vehicle drivers, about where you want to travel and how much you’ll have to pay.

Ola began in December of 2010. TaxiForSure was launched in June 2011 and was purchased by Ola for $200 million in March 2015. Uber first arrived in India in October of 2013. Meru began in 2007, but it primarily used its cars, which it purchased and drove. In 2011, it began transitioning to an aggregate approach. Ola began offering cars on its marketplace in October of 2014.

• Cost of The Trip Is Determined By The Type of Cab Picked
• Uber Cab Types
• Ola Cabs are Available in a variety of Styles
• Fares Vary From City To City, and Even Within A City, Cab Rates Might Vary
• Getting to Know the Uber/Ola Receipt
• What is the Difference Between Surge Pricing and Peak Pricing?
• TAXY is an ANDROID App that Helps you Find a Cab

Cost of The Trip Is Determined By The Type of Cab Picked

The cost of travel is determined by the type of vehicle used during the journey. Uber offers three types of vehicles in India:

• uberGO (affordable hatchbacks or small cars)
• UberX (expensive mid-sized sedans)
• uberBLACK (high-end sedans) (larger vehicles at premium pricing)

Ola, on the other hand, offers the Ola Mini, Ola Sedan, and Ola Prime. Let’s take a closer look at these vehicles.

Uber Cab Types

• UberGo: It provides transportation in hatchbacks such as the Toyota Etios Liva and Maruti Ritz to customers.
• UberX: Uber’s low-cost option is UberX. Up to four people can be accommodated. People seeking a cab might choose from standard sedans such as the Maruti Swift Dzire.
• UberBLACK: It is UberX’s high-end variant. Uber Black provides low-cost vehicles such as the Toyota Camry and Audi A6. In a high-end vehicle, he picks you up. Seats up to four people.
• UberSUV: It is UberXL’s luxury variant. Seats up to 6 people. If they choose the SUV option, they will get a Toyota Innova or a Tata Aria.
• UberXL: UberXL is the company’s low-cost SUV alternative. Picks you up in your regular SUV, with seating for up to six people. It will feature vehicles such as the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga, Toyota Innova, and others that can seat up to 6 people.
• UberPOOL: It is Uber’s Indian ride-sharing service. It allows users to split the cost of the ride with another individual who is looking for a trip along the same route. You will be given automobiles similar to those available on UberX, but it will cost you 50% less, making it the cheapest Uber. This service began in August 2014 in San Francisco and has since spread to Paris, New York, Los Angeles, and Austin.

Ola Cabs are Available in a variety of Styles

• Ola Mini is the city’s most economical personal transportation alternative, with hatchbacks such as the Tata Indica and Nissan Micra among its fleet.
• Ola Sedan offers cars such as the Suzuki DZire, Mahindra Verito, and Toyota Etios, geared at typical city travellers searching for a spacious car and a comfortable journey.
• The Toyota Innova, Altis, Skoda Rapid, and Honda Civic are among the cars in the Ola Prime business class experience fleet.

Fares Vary From City To City, and Even Within A City, Cab Rates Might Vary

In Bangalore, for example, the base fare is Rs 40, and the fare for each km is Rs 7, but in Delhi, the base ticket is Rs 55, and the fare per km is Rs 55. Below is a comparison of fareUber X in Bangalore and Delhi.

	BASE FARE	Fare per unit of time	fare per unit of distance	MIN FARE	CANCELLATION FEE
New Delhi	₹ 55	₹ 1PER MINUTE	₹ 9PER KILOMETER	₹ 80	₹ 100
Bangalore	₹ 40	₹ 1PER MINUTE	₹8 PER KILOMETER	₹ 75	₹ 75

Within the city, charges may alter if a certain distance is travelled. Uber adds an extra cost for every kilometre after 15 kilometres. Depending on the city, this rate may differ. The new long-distance tariffs for Bangalore can be found here.

	Base	Per Minute	Regular Fare (Up to 15 KM)	Long Distance Fares  (After 15 KM)	MINIMUM FARE
uberGO	₹35	₹1	₹7	₹14	₹50
uberX	₹40	₹1	₹8	₹16	₹75

At times, the Waiting fee is activated. The time it takes to board the cab after the pickup time and the time spent waiting during the trip are included in the waiting charge. All radio taxi and app-based taxi services, on the other hand, calculate it as the whole time spent on the journey, not simply the time spent stalled in traffic. At the same time, ride time refers to the overall amount of time spent from the time of pickup to the time of drop-off.

Getting to Know the Uber/Ola Receipt

Uber/Ola specifies three numbers that influence the pricing of your ride for a particular city and car type. There’s also a minimum fare and a cancellation fee, as well as the possibility of surge pricing.

• F is the standard fare.
• CPT is the fare per unit of time.
• CPD (cost per unit of distance) is the fare per unit of distance.

These figures are added together to get the ultimate pricing for a particular ride. The time and distance fares are both applied to the entire journey.

Total Fare = Base Fare + Cost Per Unit of Time * Total Time Involved + Cost Per Unit of Distance * Total Distance Travelled.

If you rode for T minutes and covered a distance of D miles, your total cost is = B+CPT*T+CPD*D.

What is the Difference Between Surge Pricing and Peak Pricing?

Surge pricing occurs when there is a strong demand for vehicles in a specific area, such as on weekends, holidays, or inclement weather. When a massive number of ride requests are received in a short period in a specific location relative to the number of drivers currently on the road, the price of all rides in that area is boosted or surged by a factor of many (displayed as 1.5x or 2.1x, for example).

The ratio between the number of demand for rides and the supply of drivers when the surge takes effect determines the multiple degrees. A metro area’s many portions are divided into neighbourhoods. When demand grows in a neighbourhood, the colour of that neighbourhood changes on the Uber driver app (see below). Increased demand is indicated by yellow, severely increased demand is indicated by orange, and demand has reached a level that produces a surge is indicated by red. The multiplier 1.2x, 1.4x, etc., determines the magnitude of the surge. A fare increase equal to the multiplier will be applied to any rides provided in that area. Surge pricing areas are not visible on the map in the passenger app. It only appears when the Surge Icon is selected. Surge pricing is not a real-time, constantly updated price; it will expire after a certain number of minutes and be recalculated based on the current demand/supply ratio.

Surge pricing is designed to motivate drivers to put more cabs on the road when they’re needed the most. Whether surge pricing indeed encourages more drivers to come on the road is hotly debated on the internet. Surge pricing is a computer-controlled algorithm. Uber’s human personnel have also kept an eye on demand spikes and, on rare occasions, used their discretion to cut costs.

Uber/Ola aren’t the only ones who use a dynamic pricing method. Hotels utilise dynamic pricing to reserve rooms, and airlines employ similar strategies to sell tickets, especially during busy holiday seasons. What sets Uber/Ola apart is that the corporation is upfront and open about how much you’ll pay if the price goes up. The taxi cab app will always ask you before requesting a car for you, so you will never pay the spiked fare amount until you agree on the fare price.

During peak periods, surge pricing applies a multiplier to all fares. As a result, the following is how Surge pricing is calculated. As previously stated, it calculates the standard fare. The standard fare is then multiplied by a supercharged multiplier.

If you do not wish to pay the surge pricing surcharge, you have the following options:

• Wait for the price to drop.
• Look into OLA or another ride-sharing service.
• Take a taxi, take the bus, phone a buddy, walk, and so on.

TAXY is an ANDROID App that Helps you Find a Cab

Taxy will assist you in locating a taxi, both private and black-and-yellow, in your area at the most competitive price. This program uses data from Uber, Ola Cabs, and TaxiForSure to locate all available cars in your area and sort them into two columns: cheapest and nearest. It will also include information on the taxi service, the type of taxi, and the estimated trip time. You can even program the app to notify you at a specific time and display the best cabs available at that time. Taxis are currently available in 52 cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Pune, Goa, Kochi, Bhopal, Chandigarh, and Surat.

Rent-Free Accommodation: Each employee, along with his/her salary, is provided with a prerequisite by the employer, and rent-free accommodation or accommodation with minimal charges is one such perquisite. Income Tax Rules 1962 state that the taxation of perquisites is valid, including rent-free accommodation or accommodation at a concessional rate. This article deals with the possibilities of the accommodation that the employee can get from the employer and how is the income tax charged on it.

There are two sections in which the employees get categorized

1. Central Government and State Government employees.
2. Private sector or non-governmental employees.

• Division of Accommodation
• Taxation on Rent Free Accommodation
• Taxation on Hotel Accommodation

Division of Accommodation

There are two types of rent-free accommodation

1. Unfurnished accommodation.
2. Furnished accommodation.

Taxation on Rent Free Accommodation

There are several factors and possibilities that determine the taxability of the rent-free accommodation provided, and they will be discussed below.

For the accommodation provided by the Government

• Unfurnished Accommodation: The taxable amount for this type of accommodation is the difference between the license fees determined by the central or state government and the actual rent paid by the employee.
• Furnished Accommodation: The taxable amount is the same as that of the unfurnished accommodation along with the 10% per annum of the furniture cost owned by the government or the actual rent of the furniture if the employee hires it.

For the accommodation provided by the Private or Non-governmental Companies where the Employer owns the property

In such cases of accommodation, the value of the prerequisite for the employee is calculated based on the population of the town or city according to the census of 2001.

Unfurnished Accommodation 

For this kind of accommodation, they are further categorized as

• Cities which have a Population of up to 10 Lakh People – The perquisite value is 7.5% of the employee’s salary.
• Cities with a Population Between 10 to 25 Lakh People – 10% of the employee’s salary are taken as the value of the perquisite.
• Cities with a Population of more than 25 Lakh People – The value of the perquisite is 15% of the employee’s salary.

Furnished Accommodation

In this case, the amount calculated for unfurnished accommodation is added with the cost of the furniture owned by the employer at a 10% per annum rate. For other circumstances of hiring the furniture, the actual hire charges are levied.

For the accommodation provided by the Private or Non-governmental Companies where the property is leased or rented by the Employer

Unfurnished accommodation by Private or Non-governmental Companies

There are two ways of levying the income tax for such accommodation. They are –

1. The actual amount of the rent or lease for the property.
2. 15% of the salary of the employee.

The lower of the two is taken as the value of the perquisite.

Furnished Accommodation

The taxable amount is the actual amount of the unfurnished accommodation added with the 10% per annum rate of the cost of the furniture if the employer owns it. Otherwise, actual hire charges for the furniture are to be paid.

Taxation on Hotel Accommodation

• Unfurnished hotel accommodation: No tax is levied on it.
• Furnished hotel accommodation: In this case, the lower among both the amounts are taken for taxation, they include:
  • The charges paid or payable to the hotel.
  • 24% of the employee’s salary.

However, a hotel stay of fewer than 15 days in case of transfer from one place to another is not counted as a perquisite of the employee and is not taxable.

Note:

1. In each case, the actual amount of rent paid or payable by the employee gets deducted.
2. An employee’s salary includes the pay, bonus, commission, taxable allowances, or any other form of payment.
3. The furniture of a furnished accommodation includes television, refrigerator, air conditioner and other gadgets.
4. The accommodation can include the following places such as a flat, house, farmhouse, hotel, guest house, mobile home, service apartment, caravan, motel, ship, or any other floating structures.
5. When an employee gets transferred from one place to other, the employee is provided with a new accommodation at the new place and can retain the old housing for 90 days with the taxation of only one place. However, after 90 days, the employee needs to pay the taxes for both the accommodations.

Indian Passport

The Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, currently issues the Indian Passport only through a network of 37 passport offices across the nation and the 180 Indian embassies worldwide.

Individuals who go overseas for education, vacation, annual pilgrimage tours or other religious purposes, medical treatment, business, or family visits should bring this Passport with them.

And according to the Passports Act of 1967, the Passport identifies the owners as citizens of India by birth or naturalization.

Passport and associated support services have seen an exponential rise in demand in recent years as the economy has risen and globalization has extended to cover.

Types of Passports Issued in India

There are essentially four categories of passports issued in India:

• Ordinary Passport: Ordinary passports are issued by the government to normal citizens. These are general-purpose passports that allow holders to fly to foreign nations for leisure purposes or business. It has a blue passport. This enables customs, immigration, and other foreign agencies to distinguish the difference between ordinary citizens and high-ranking Indian top government officials.
• Official Passport: Official or diplomatic passports are government-issued to those traveling abroad on official business. These are the white passports which are the most powerful of the several sorts of passports. White passports are only made available to government personnel. It is given to those who are traveling abroad on official duties. The white Passport provides the flexibility for customs and immigration officers to immediately recognize the person as a government employee and treat them in an appropriate manner.
• Diplomat Passport: Indian ambassadors and top government officials are automatically issued a maroon passport. A separate letter of request for a high-quality passport needs to be mentioned. Those with such passports are entitled to access a plethora of benefits and privileges when visiting another country. Additionally, they do not require a visa to travel internationally. Secondly, maroon passport holders can cross immigration processes far quicker than expected regular citizens.
• Orange Passport: The Indian government has recently revealed its intention to issue orange passports to the vast majority of the country’s citizens.

It can be employed to distinguish those who have not finished secondary school correctly. Unlike any other conventional passport, the orange Passport will not include the last page, which provides the holder’s father’s name, permanent residence, and other critical information.

People who do not have a high school diploma fall under the ECR (immigration check necessary) particular category.

This signifies that just about every time a member in this group wishes to go overseas, he or she must meet standards established by immigration authorities.

Tatkaal Passports (for emergency situation use) and Short Validity Passports (SVP)are also generally available, and once issued, these are customarily classified as Ordinary Passports.

Difference Between Passport and Visa

• A passport is legally binding documentation. It’s also the most fundamental form of identification needed while visiting a foreign nation. It is given to individuals who necessarily apply for it by the government. It also features an identification verification paper because it confirms a person’s identity and citizenship.
• Visa is an official authorization in the form of a passport stamp provided by a government official of the visiting nation to enter, continue to remain, and transit in the visiting country.
• In practice, a visa is issued by a senior government official of the place you decide to enter. The processing period for a visa varies significantly per nation, whereas if you actually pick a suitable option, you can obtain the necessary Visa quickly.

There are significant differences between a passport and a visa. The following contrasts have been provided:

A passport is essentially a legal document in hardcopy that allows individuals to travel. It acts as the bearer’s personal clearly identification certificate.

A visa is a formal statement that permits you to stay in the nation you are traveling for the timeframe specified on the Visa.

• The Passport is issued by a specific government department, whereas an Embassy or Consulate issues the Visa.
• A passport is a distinct document. It is usually a little booklet. A visa, on the contrary, is a stamp of approval that appears in your Passport. This is also one of the primary distinctions between a passport and a visa.
• There are several sorts of passports, including regular passports, temporary passports, and diplomatic passports.

It comes in many different forms, including tourist visas, business visas, transit visas, labor visas, and student visas.

• The government of the nation to which you belong significantly issues a passport. If you are a citizen of India, your Passport is provided by the Indian government.

On the other end, Visas are issued by a government official in the countries you decide to enter. For instance, if you wish to visit America, an American government representative will grant you a visa.

• Simply applying for and acquiring a passport is a routine procedure and easy to carry out.

Visas may be a troublesome assignment because they authorize you to enter and remain in another nation. The complexity of receiving a visa varies considerably depending on the country you plan to experience. Ordinarily, obtaining a visiting visa is uncomplicated.

However, for other nations, such as Japan, even obtaining a visitor visa is difficult and time-consuming.

• A passport typically includes a photo of the holder as well as relevant information such as name, age, gender, nationality, date of birth, place of birth, expiration date, so on and so forth.

Visas primarily share information such as the length of stay, the purpose of the visit, the expiry date, the number of visits permissible, and so on.

Is a Visa Part of the Requirement if You Have a Passport?

There are no established grounds. The majority of visa restrictions are specified on trade and commerce accords between nations. Other countries provide visas based on previous or diplomatic ties.

Visa formalities may also be relaxed for citizens of dependent territories or former colonies.

Due to various long-standing treaties, numerous nations allow US passport holders to enter their country without a visa.

Prior to you start traveling, you should surely figure out if the destination you’re visiting demands a visa and then plan accordingly.

Can Someone Continue To Travel With A Passport With An Expiration Date Of Below Six Months In India?

Most nations do not accept international tourists with passports that are less than six months expired. If anyone decides to visit foreign countries, it is invariably a good idea to actually renew your Passport.

What is the Statistical Significance of an Indian Passport?

Depending on the service considerations, there are 199 passport-holding countries in all. Only 166 nations provide superior amenities to Indian passport holders. And furthermore, to that, India ranks 84th in the world on the grounds of passport strength.

Visa on Arrival for Indian Passport Holders

“Visa on Arrival,” or VOA, essentially allows Indians to travel to countries in Asia, Oceania, the Caribbean, Africa, and the Middle East. Visitors can easily fly to countries having “Visa on Arrival” or visa-free status.

The whole visa distribution standard procedure is specifically directed and entirely finished by the port of entry government councils.

However, apart from that, Visa on Arrival is a convenient option available for Indian passport holders.

It significantly reduces last-minute issues and problems in acquiring a visa before visiting a new nation.

Travelers are not typically expected to get a visa to visit the countries listed beneath. The most vital component, though, its validity. Tourists can only visit these places for a limited amount of time.

Below is a compilation of countries of the world that authorize the utilization of the VOA:

1. Thailand
2. Mauritius
3. Ecuador
4. The British Virgin Islands
5. Cook Islands
6. Bhutan
7. Seychelles
8. Dominica
9. Haiti
10. El Salvador
11. Cambodia
12. Togo
13. Bolivia
14. St Lucia
15. Fiji
16. Maldives
17. Kenya
18. Guyana
19. Jamaica
20. Micronesia
21. Macau
22. Tanzania
23. Saint Kitts and Nevis
24. Vanuatu
25. Indonesia
26. Ethiopia
27. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
28. Samoa
29. Iraq
30. Madagascar
31. Grenada
32. Tuvalu
33. Nepal
34. Mozambique
35. Trinidad & Tobago
36. Nieu
37. Laos
38. Uganda
39. Montserrat
40. Palau
41. Jordan
42. Guinea-Bissau
43. Nicaragua
44. Timor Leste
45. Cape Verde
46. Turks & Caicos
47. Comoros Islands

Indian Applying for US Visa

There may have been a plethora of factors why you find it absolutely required to visit the United States. The primary thing you’d need to visit the United States is a visa.

It is also crucial to understand that the protocol for obtaining a visa differs contingent on the type of visa applied for. Despite if a visa is granted, it does not help make sure access into the nation.

Yet, a valid visa is required to enter the United States. A visa can be secured through a tour company or online.

There are many different sorts of US Visas widely available to Indian people.

They are categorized into two types: immigrant visas and non-immigrant visas.

Non-immigrant visas are the most frequently formally requested, and they are further segmented depending on the visit’s objective. The many categories of non-immigrant visas provided by the United States are mentioned below.

• Employment Visa
• Business Visa
• Visa for Tourism
• Visa for Medical Treatment
• Visa for Education
• Indian citizens who actively sought to dwell completely and permanently in the United States have authorized an immigrant visa. Foreign citizens are allocated a restricted quota of immigration visas by the government.

Prerequisites for Application for USA visa

The following facts are a few major conditions that must be fully satisfied or closely followed while registering for a Visa USA:

• Candidates should always provide contact numbers for their residence in the target country.
• Candidates must clearly show that they are economically secure enough to come and visit the intended destination for the entire term of their stay.
• Candidates should never have a history of criminal convictions.
• If registering for a business visa, candidates should always submit a written confirmation from their organization, and whenever requesting an academic visa, they must demonstrate a letter of appointment.
• The applicant’s Passport must be functional for at least six months from the period of the visa application form.
• To explain and justify the length of stay, applicants must provide return tickets.
• To reduce the possibility of uncontrolled immigration, candidates must clearly show strong connections to their birth country.
• Qualified candidates’ partners or offspring will also have to petition for completely separate dependent visas.
• The individual must be totally free of contagious diseases such as TB.

Documents that Must be Submitted for a US Visa Application

Some basic fundamental documentation is crucial to verify the accuracy of the details supplied while applying for a visa.

However, they might vary depending on the specific type of Visa formally requested; the following information and documentation checklist must be provided for a visa to be approved by the government.

• If appropriate, a notary stamp.
• Confirmation of financial assets.
• If possible, a divorce/death documentation for the spouse
• All relevant documentation verifying the petitioner’s and applicant’s correlation must be furnished in the occurrence of a family-based or dependent visa.
• Passport photographs of the applicant that are standard size
• A photocopy of a valid passport
• The number on the Passport
• Number of the visa application
• Number of the Visa fee receipt
• Certificate issued of Police Clearance
• Birth certificate
• If relevant, court documents.
• If you have any military records, please provide them.
• Contact information and a specific address in the target country

Measures to Take Before Requesting for a US Visa

To get a Visa to the United States, an individual should first complete the following steps:

• Check your eligibility requirements
• One must carefully select the type of Visa as fit for their purpose
• Complete an online application form with all of the relevant information.
• Participate in the Visa interview at a specified embassy with all related documents.

How to Apply for an Immigrant Visa?

When considering applying for an immigrant visa in the United States, a visa claimant should go through the basic sequence of steps:

• The applicant typically requires a police clearance certification by the Regional Passport Office. It is only effective for one year.
• The applicant must be fit to undergo the medical examination test administered by licensed medical professionals.
• After that, they need to fill out the DS-260 form containing your Invoice Identification number and Beneficiary ID number.
• Then they are expected to be paid their Visa service charges.
• Then you should schedule an appointment at the embassy for both updating their biometric data and an interview. A face-to-face visa interview process is pretty much indispensable irrespectively of the method of application.

If your immigrant visa application simply appears to lack necessary information or requires more administrative processing, it may be canceled or temporarily suspended under Section 221(g).

How to Apply for a Non-Immigrant Visa?

When considering applying for a non-immigrant visa in the United States, a visa claimant should go through the basic sequence of steps:

• First, the relevant Visa type must be decided. They must meticulously select their Visa category based on the purpose of their vacation.
• They must next properly and efficiently complete the Visa application form DS-160. They must check that all of their information is completely correct; because they will be unable to make significant changes once, they have submitted the form.
• They must next pay the costs corresponding with their Visa type.
• Then you should schedule an appointment at the embassy for both updating their biometric data and an interview. One should always strategize two interviews: one for the Visa Application Centre and one for the US Embassy.

It is critically important that one shows up at the interview location 15 minutes early. The candidate can also immediately cancel or reschedule their appointment if necessary.

However, they must try to attend a scheduled appointment at the US Embassy on any business day between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m.

What is the Payments System for the Costs?

Visa fees can be paid electronically by NEFT, Mobile Payment, or Cash. It is not adjustable. Individuals with diplomatic passports are excused from paying Visa costs, regardless of the cause of their trip or the kind of Visa. Secondly, official passport holders are not invoiced for official Visas.

It should be explicitly mentioned that non-immigrant Visa costs can be paid upfront at designated AXIS or Citibank administrative offices.

Tourist Visa for Singapore

Individuals from different nations can explore and discover Singapore with a Singapore Tourist Visa. This Visa is pretty much exclusively valid for tourism and cannot be utilized for education or a full-time job.

Necessary Documentation for a Singapore Visa Application Form

All Indian citizens who intend to request a Singapore visa will need to include a photocopy of their supporting documentation. Here is the array of documentation that you will be required to provide.

• Form 14A must be thoroughly completed and acknowledged by the applicant.
• One current passport-sized photograph. The picture should have been captured within the previous three months and on a plain white background.
• The image should also have a matt or semi-matt texture. The candidate must display their entire face without even any headwear. If the applicant is donning a headpiece for religious or racial considerations, the photo will be perfectly fine as long as it does not conceal their facial characteristics.
• A photocopy of the local contacts’ Passport in case you are applying for a Singapore Visa online as a local contact. The local Singaporean contact has to be at least 21 years old.
• Documentation of equitable funds to help finance the duration of stay in Singapore submission
• Disembarkation or embarkation card, as well as an electronic Arrival card
• Evidence of residency.
• Parents have to s submit a NOC (required if a minor child is traveling).
• Documents that are not in English are almost always needed to be officially translated.
• A letter to the Singaporean Embassy that mentions the trip dates.
• A bank statement that shows the preceding six months of transactions that the bank has officially acknowledged.
• Copy of the preceding three years’ income tax returns

It should be specifically highlighted that the High Commission may also want you to submit additional documentation if deemed necessary.

How Do You Apply for A Tourist Visa in Singapore?

• To begin, the applicant must visit the ICA’s official website and then choose the “apply online” option.
• They should then login into Singapore personal access.
• Users should also complete out all of the necessary information and attach all of the relevant certificates.
• They then, therefore, must essentially pay the Singapore visa expenses.
• Applicants attempting for a Singapore visa must deposit an application cost of $30 Singapore dollars. Besides that, licensed visa agencies to levy an extra service cost of Rs.300. The application cost is non-refundable, no matter the outcome of the registration.
• After that, they must submit the visa application to any licensed visa agent.
• They will be able to print their e-visa after their visa application has indeed been confirmed.

Time Duration to Acquire a Tourist Visa in Singapore

The High Commission of Singapore may probably take up to one business day to accomplish your tourist visa application. This one business day will not include the date of application submission, statutory holidays, or weekends.

It is practically possible that the High Commission could take more than one day to complete your application.

Validity Time Period of the Singapore Tourist Visa

The Singapore tourist visa is legally valid for up to 2 years; that being said, it only permits visitors to dwell in the nation for a maximum of 30 days.

It is a multiple-entry visa, which essentially means you can visit the nation several more times within the expiry term again without having to renew the Visa.

Visa for Thailand

Indian passport holders are eligible to visit Thailand for vacation, business, work, education, and a multitude of other purposes, based on the current eligibility conditions listed for each visa category.

Individuals could either apply for a Thailand visa beforehand or use the same Visa on arrival (VOA) service (maximum of 15 days stay-period).

The Royal Thai Embassy/Consulate, which in itself is part of the Kingdom of Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), supervises and is fully accountable for overseeing admittance into the Kingdom of Thailand.

What Measures Need to be taken while registering for a Thailand visa?

To be considered for a visa to Thailand, all applicants must pass the screening process.

Though the registration form, eligibility requirements, and conditions vary for each visa category, the following required documents reflect the majority of visa applications:

• Applicants must submit the application form in full compliance with the MFA’s standards and practices.
• A passport-sized photo of the candidate must be firmly attached to the application form.
• There should also be an original passport with at least six months of legal validity.
• Submission of documentation of equitable finances to help to fund the term of stay in Thailand.
• Applicants may also be needed to produce ITRs from the preceding six months.
• A photocopy of the officially confirmed return ticket is normally typically required as part of the procedure; however, certain visa categories may just necessitate the scheduled date of travel.

Thailand Visa Validity Time Period for Indians

The Royal Thai Embassy/Consulate significantly issues Thailand visas with legitimacy periods of three months, six months, one year, and three years.

The time limit is specified on all visas. In addition to the existing, an immigration official will stamp the Visa the stipulated stay time. The kind of Visa will predetermine the stay duration.

Online Application

Applicants may indeed generally apply for a Thailand visa at VFS Global’s official website. The online visa application form inquiries fundamental information about the client along with passport credentials.

To commence the online visa application process, individuals must go to the official VFS Global website at http://www.vfs-thailand.co.in/. And carry out the required steps.

It should be taken care to download the Visa authentication stamp after completing the form. Then they should visit the most appropriate Thai consulate to complete the process.

Offline Application

The Royal Thai Embassy/Consulate currently offers candidates the option of applying in offline mode (on paper) by approaching one of the VFS Global Thailand Visa Application Centers.

The application form, which must be provided, and the necessary documents, may be retrieved from the VFS Global website.

The centers are present in the prominent cities of New Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, and Kolkata.

Timings for passport retrieval: 08:00 to 12:00 – 13:00 to 15:00 (Monday-Friday)

Visa for Dubai

There are wide varieties of visas currently available depending on the objective of your international travel to Dubai. Tourist and business visas are generally granted for periods of 14, 30, and 60 days.

All visas are for a single entrance and are perfectly valid in all Emirates. Visa holders are available to access any of the seven Emirates’ cities.

You can request a Dubai visa between 58 and 5 business days before actually your scheduled departure. The processing timeframe for a visa is 3-6 working days.

When an individual applies for a visa to successfully go to the UAE, they must pay actual fees that vary depending on the length of their stay.

Necessary Documentation for a Dubai Visa

Here is the array of documentation that you will be required to provide:

• Original Passport for verification (valid for six months from the date of travel)
• Officially confirmed return ticket from Emirates in original Scanned copy of Invitation Letter, if any, from the host organization in the UAE
• Female applicants and college students over the age of 18 who are essentially flying alone will need to provide a letter of authorization from their parents or husband (NOC), as well as proof of the identity of their parents or spouse.
• Photocopies of the first and last two pages in color, and even the observation page and legitimate travel records (if any).
• Income tax returns, both original and photocopied
• Compensation slips from the previous six months
• Photocopy of the original PAN card and a photocopy of the fixed deposit receipt

The application form for a Dubai visa, which must be submitted to the authorities and the relevant documentation, may be accessed on the official website.

The relevant authorities begin processing the application whenever the visa application form is received, and the visa payments are fully paid. The length of the stay affects the time required to perform the verification of the application.

However, the standard time required is 3 to 4 days in a row.

Applicants can monitor the status of their visa application once it has been completed. This may be accomplished by visiting www.dubaivisa.net/india/index.html and clicking on the ‘Track Your Application’ option.

Time-share Holidays Like Sterling Holiday Resorts, Club Mahindra, etc: Any person can be confused about what a time-share is? Or may have a vague idea of what a time-share is but want some more in-depth information on how a time-share really works. In simple terms, a time-share is a resort unit that allows owners to have an increment of time in which they can use for vacations every year.

What Is A Time-Share?

A time-share is a vacation property, or resorts split into fractional o shared ownership. This ownership is usually in weekly increments. Most time-shares today are with large corporations like Club Mahindra, Sterling Holiday, etc. In order to provide customisation and flexibility for vacations for owners, these hospitality brands offer a travel club style of membership.

According to the few Resort Development Association, “timesharing” is determined as shared ownership of a vacation estate, which may or may not incorporate an interest in real property. A time-share enables owners to have an increment at a time in which they can utilise their shared ownership. These increments are commonly for one week but vary by resort and its developer. Basically, a person is sharing a unit with others but “own” it for an assigned week.

How Does a Time-share Work?

Now that we covered the definition of time-share and what it is, now we can define the working or implementing the process of the time-share. If a person is a time-share owner or looking to Buy Time-share, in that case, they must get familiar with their brand that offering vacation ownership because each of them works differently and individually.

The most typical (which is now considered to be outdated!) way of working on a time-share is owning the same resort for a specific week at the same time every year. Traditionally, during their “fixed week”, families could travel to their time-share resort. However, at the present time, there are many more options available for time-share than ever.

Time-share ownership involves payment of an upfront sum with an added yearly fee for maintenance. The time-share business is broken into 52 weeks, and each week is considered as a unit. The price of the week depends upon the season of the slot that the person wants to buy. For various resorts location, depending upon the demand and supply, the period for peak or lean season may differ. In hills, the season of summer may be considered to be the peak season, whereas, at beaches, it may not be the lean season. The season is usually described with the colour codes, and to describe a peak, resorts can use the different colour codes to demonstrate lean season.

For describing the season’s popularity, there are few colour codes used by some companies. The most common time-share in India is Mahindra and Mahindra, Sterling Holiday Resorts, Avelon Resorts, Nanda Tourist Corporation, etc.

• Purple: Peak Season
• Red: Best Season, Vacation Time
• White: Mid Season
• Blue: Off-Season

Understanding Time-Share Holidays Room and Seasons

The Various Type of Room included in Time-share Holidays

• For three adults or two adults along with two kids, gets a studio apartment room of around 300-350 sq feet which is the lowest subscription and AMC.
• For four adults, one bedroom of around 550-650 sq feet is allotted.
• For six adults, two bedrooms of around 750-850 sq feet are allocated, which is the highest maintenance and AMC.

The Different Type of Season included in Time-share Holidays

The type of season in when it would be worthwhile for a person to invest in a time-share week to commence are:

• Purple: Represents the Peak holiday season like summer holidays, Diwali, New year, which will charge the highest subscription fees and AMC.
• Red: Represents the Peak season for the particular location and the Long holidays. (Kasol- January-March, Goa- October-February, Delhi- December-February, etc.)
• White:  Represents, or known as the regular season, which is basically the Less than ideal times but not completely off-season.
• Blue: Represents the Offseason which will have the lowest subscription fees and AMC.

A particular colour season member shall be eligible to use a holiday in their category or categories of lower season. For example, if the situation demands, the purple season members can opt for red, white or blue, but members under the white season can only opt for white or blue.

The cost of Membership, as advertised by Mahindra Holidays in 2015, has 12 types of membership (4 seasons x 3 types of accommodation). So, if a person opts for a two-bedroom and purple season, the individual’s subscription and AMC charge will be the highest. As per their website in 2017, the price of membership was between Rs.269,800 for a Blue Studio to Rs.1,824,900 for a Purple Two Bedroom (which was effective from 1st Mar 2017), was available at affordable EMIs term offered for 6 to 48 month period.

Note: the amount mentioned above just talks about the Joining fees, not the fees charged for maintenance. For upkeep of the property owned, staff salaries or utilities, annual fees for maintenance have to be borne by the members according to their room type, which would be approximately about Rs 20K for a purple member and about Rs 15 thousand to Rs 16 thousand per year for a Red member.

Booking for Holidays

The room booking is made on a first-come, first-serve basis. For a confirmed booking, the person should book well in advance.

• For Weekday stay: At least 30-45 days in advance should be booked by the member.
• For Weekend stay: At least 3-4 months in advance should be booked by the member.

A BLUE member CANNOT book rooms in the PURPLE season but can book rooms: in BLUE season between 1 to 120 days in advance, in RED season between 1 to 7 days in advance and in WHITE season between 1 to 15 days in advance.

When booking of a room is made in case of a non-availability, there is NO transparency on the waitlist number

When booking an Air ticket or Bus, people get to see how many seats are still available. But in Time-share holidays, they do not display any available rooms or the number of rooms that are empty. Through travel websites or travel agents, many times rooms are given to non-member.

If a person does the calculation on the Number of Rooms per Number of Members, they will discover that there would be a shortage of rooms. Assuming that a timesharing holiday has 1.83 lakh members. As every member can go for one week holiday for all the members, the number of rooms required is 3520 is evaluated from 1.83L members/52 weeks. Most of these timesharing holidays do not possess these many rooms. Assuming the highest number of rooms of 3500. Then during long-drawn weekend holidays, only 3.5K members can book & avail themselves. The remaining 1.79L members will be unable to avail themselves of the offer.

A cancellation fee is imposed on a Member who cancels a confirmed holiday at least 45 days in advance of the start date of the confirmed Week. One to utilise their Week at a later date can also get it back. No refund will be for cancellations done less than 45 days in advance.

Cancellation of Time Share Holidays

Generally, most of the companies that offer time-share have a free look-in period of 10 days wherein the owner can cancel the membership and avail full refund. But one has to run around to get their refund.

Selling off Time-Share Holidays membership

If a member changes his mind or dislikes time-share, he has an option to sell it off or cancel the policy. But in actuality, this process is not that easy as it sounds. If the policy is cancelled by an individual buyer within ten days of commencement, then the person will be eligible for a complete refund. No refund will be made if the person fails to cancel their membership within the first ten days. In such cases, the only option the member left with is – to sell off the membership in the market. An easy sale of such policies is witnessed in Open markets like Quickr and OLX.

Food & Beverages in Time Share Holidays

A person has to bier the money for food and beverages from their own pockets. Many Resorts are constructed in remote locations, which indirectly forces the person to take food in their restaurants. One can opt for a Buffet per person or go for a package of 2 or 3 meals. One can also opt for individual dishes or la-carte. Always check the Food and Beverages cost, which are the hidden costs/disadvantage in Club Mahindra.

What to Know Before Buying Timesharing Holidays?

• Don’t pay full price: Like most real-estate transactions (even hotel stays), the initial price is usually negotiable and can be paid in installments.
• Know what you are actually buying: Because time-share companies know that one can easily find cheaper options from existing buyers, often from websites or open markets, so they usually offer closing incentives and other perks.
• Know your state’s right of refusal on time-share contracts: Because of many documented cases of exploitation on time-share sales and resales, most states have put in fairly generous opt-out clauses for consumers, so always be aware of all the clauses and rights before buying.
• Know how to trade your time-share interval or exchange it for a time: One should know to share their money at another resort when you can’t use it, especially if they want to trade to another resort, they have to know how to do so.
• Beware of scams: Some unhappy time-share owners may confront a scheme where they’re cold-called and offered a “buyer” for their time-share, typically for an inflated/increased price over the originally paid price, then that probably is a scam. Such scams can lead to huge loss of money caused due to some greed for extra money.