Foreign nationals require a visa to enter India. Somehow, he didn't manage to get his visa done before departure. Fortunately, Singapore citizens are one of the 11 nationalities eligible for tourist visa on arrival issued at designated international airports in India only. (Pls check with your embassy for any changes to this scheme.) It took 30-45 mins and costs Rs 2,870, approx S$77 compared to S$54 if you do it in Singapore. Make sure the stamp on your passport is clear, not faded and you are able to see and read the key words. Otherwise, you may be held up along the way trying to explain the validity of your visa, especially if you're visiting protected/restricted areas in India.

An Inner Line Permit is required in addition to your India visa if you're visiting protected/restricted areas. Don't worry, it's free when you apply in India. We decided to pop by the Sikkim Tourist Information Centre in Siliguri so that we can get this paperwork over and done with quickly. We walked in and there was no one else except a man sitting behind a table. The man looked at my donkey friend's passport for a long time and said I can only do hers but not yours. We explained, a few times, that his visa was done at Kolkata airport and even produced proof of receipt. Still, he refused to issue him the permit. No reason or explanation given. We told him to call his boss, twice. After speaking to his boss, he shook his head for the second time and explained that boss signature is required and boss is in Gangtok now. He told us to try other office instead. I was so mad at his rigidness and shirking of responsibility I found myself yelling at him. We came all the way here with a valid visa issued by your immigration office but were denied of a permit without any valid reason?! We suspect it's because he has never seen a visa on arrival and afraid he may get into trouble if he grant permit. My donkey friend gave up and told him to issue my permit first. A foreigner came and got hers done within 10 mins. When my permit was done, I looked at the signature at the bottom of the form and asked him Is this your signature? No it's my boss signature. You said your boss need to sign and his signature is right here so can you issue his permit now??????? I reasoned. Oh my lord. We were stuck here for 1.5 hours just to fill up two forms...