I entered India from Bangladesh this afternoon at the Argatala “integrated” checkpoint. Here’s how it went:
There’s nothing really integrated about the checkpoint at all; the Bangladesh offices are on one side of the border and the Indian on the other.
The Bangladesh side was much slower. You first pay 500 Taka exit tax at the Sonali bank booth at the immigration office (that’s integrated I suppose) then take your official receipt to the immigration desk where you have to fill out an exit card with details from your passport. Make sure you have your own pen.
Then you have to put the same information into a big dusty book, including your father’s name and the name of your address in Bangladesh. I explained that I’d been a tourist for thirty days and had stayed in hotels around the country and didn’t have an “address”. He insisted I enter the name of one hotel along with the manager’s name and contact number. It’s ridiculous of course, but I entered a fake hotel in Dhaka and a made-up name and phone number for the manager which satisfied him. Then my passport was stamped.
Then off to the Indian side. They had proper immigration booths there (as opposed to old wooden desks in a crowded little office on the Bangladesh side) and the process was quicker. (NOTE - you need a visa for India in advance, there are no on-arrival options here).
I had to fill out a landing card and pose for a digital photograph then I was stamped in. 10 meters down the hall is customs where the man entered some information form my passport into a book and I was in. No one asked for any proof of onward travel, hotel reservations, or any other information at all. In fact the Indian official didn’t ask me one single question of any kind, just gave me the landing card and that was it.
Outside the building there are CNGs/auto rickshaws into Argatala.
There’s a Bank of India inside the immigration office but curiously they don’t change Taka, only pounds, dollars and euros. No ATM. A few hundred meters down the road there are a few small shops that sell photocopies and mobile phone recharges and they will change Taka into rupees at good rates.
The whole process took about 45 minutes. Everyone was pleasant and courteous.
