Why more Indians seem to be travelling to Nicaragua, what the visa process is like

The Airbus A340 had taken off from the United Arabian Emirates (UAE) and was headed to Nicaragua on December 22. Following a technical stop at Vatry, it was grounded after the local French administration received an anonymous tip-off about ‘human trafficking’. The flight returned to Mumbai on Tuesday morning (December 26) from Vatry airport. However, 25 Indians stayed back in the European country, seeking asylum.

Why are people seeking to travel to Nicaragua, and what does the immigration process look like for those attempting to do so? We explain.

Why have cases of Indians seeking to travel to Nicaragua led to some concerns?

Although some of those interested in travelling to Nicaragua may be genuine tourists or business travellers, travel sector sources say that it is fast emerging as a springboard to illegally enter the United States and Canada. According to data made available by the US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), 96,917 Indians were arrested while attempting to enter the US illegally in the financial year 2023, signalling a 51.61 per cent jump from the previous year. At least 41,770 of those Indians were arrested while crossing the Mexican land border.

“We are getting n number of queries for Niacaragua. While some may be genuine cases, it does raise suspicion when a person with no or very little international travel history wants to travel to Nicaragua of all places. But we cannot help it if someone wants to go as we cannot verify anyone’s intentions,” said a source, adding that a large number of queries have been coming from residents of Punjab, followed by Gujarat.

In the recent case of the UAE-Nicaragua flight, around 70 per cent of passengers appeared to be from Punjab, sources in Punjab police earlier told The Indian Express. Another big group onboard was Gujarati passengers.

Is the process for obtaining a visa from Nicaragua easy?

Unlike some other Central American countries, the process to obtain a visa for Nicaragua for Indian passport holders can be rather tricky, given the lack of clarity in the public domain on its current visa and immigration rules. For starters, Nicaragua currently does not have an embassy in India. In fact, Nicaragua has diplomatic missions in only a handful of countries all over the world.

In India, Nicaragua only has an honorary consul general – Dabur group’s Vivek Burman – whose office is not authorised to issue any visa or even authenticate any related documents, according to people in the know. The honorary consul general’s office is merely a representative office, which coordinates with the Nicaraguan embassy in Tokyo, Japan.

The Indian Express has learnt that there is no provision for getting an advance visa for Nicaragua from India. Technically, Indian passport holders are eligible to get a visa on arrival in Nicaragua. However, the process seems to be riddled with confusion as the Nicaraguan government has not clearly spelt out the policy in the public domain.

So how do Indians reach Nicaragua?

According to sources in the travel sector, Indians with valid visas for the US, Canada, and the Schengen countries in Europe can reach Nicaragua and get a visa on arrival stamped into their passports after paying the requisite visa fee. However, those who do not have valid visas to these countries are advised to apply for travel authorisation directly with the Nicaraguan Ministry of the Interior.

Even those people having valid US, Canadian, or Schengen visas are advised by travel agents to apply for advance travel authorisation, as the immigration procedure in Nicaragua can get complicated due to a lack of clarity on entry rules for Indian citizens.

There is also a language barrier – Spanish is the prevalent language in Nicaragua, and most people there do not understand English. Also, the fact that traditionally Nicaragua has not seen much inflow of Indian travelers could add to the problem, as immigration officials are not expected to be well-versed with the regulations for Indian citizens.

These issues usually do not arise for citizens of most countries in South and Central America, and all of North America and Europe, as well as the likes of Australia and New Zealand, as they can enter Nicaragua without a visa. The Central American country has regular visitor flows from many of these countries.

Nicaragua’s honorary consul general’s office in India has been asking those who want to travel to the Central American country to directly approach the Nicaraguan Ministry of the Interior, The Indian Express has learnt. They are being asked to send over email their details, passport copies, itinerary, and hotel bookings to the ministry, and seek further information on the visa on arrival process. Burman, who is currently overseas, could not be reached for comment. An e-mail sent to him remained unanswered.