American investor Raymond Russell found himself frustrated trying to apply for an e-visa for India and called out the faulty website with unnecessary information. The process requires an investor to submit details of all the countries they visited in the last 10 years; the payment options listed don’t work well for foreigners were the grievances that Russell held against the process, only to conclude that if one can survive the e-visa filing process, they will be fine in India. Russell’s long rant came with an ‘I love India’ disclaimer, though. “Anybody who applies for an e-visa to India knows the website is always comically, profoundly, embarrassingly broken. It looks like it was written in 2003, kicks you out randomly without saving your work, won’t charge your credit card until your nineteenth attempt. But this is a new one—halfway through the business visa application, it displays a list of the tallest peaks in each Indian state?? Come on folks, I’m just trying to invest in your country!” Russell wrote. Raymond Russell, in his website describes himself as an investor working on the ‘India–US frontier technology corridor.’ For about five years, he has been investing in early-stage deep-tech startups in the US and India. His investment focus includes aerospace, energy, materials, manufacturing, next-gen batteries, fusion power, advanced motors, delivery drones, robotics, space technologies, and frontier infrastructure, his website said. Russell’s grievance got too many takers as many shared the concern over the poor design of the e-visa site. “I always say this, to know India is a third world country, you don’t have to visit India, only see the Indian government website,” one wrote. “Every year I consider going to the consulate for the 10y visa, every year I decide ‘nah, online seems easier,’ every year I spend 4 hours on the web form, every year I regret my laziness,” Russell wrote, explaining why he does not get his visa done physically.
