Everything about The Kartarpur Corridor

Where is it exactly?

This Corridor is between Dera Baba Nanak and Gurudwara Darbar Sahib. Dera Baba Nanak is a small border town near Amritsar. Its 50kms away from Amritsar and well connected by road and trains. There are daily 1 train from Amritsar and 3 trains from “Verka” Junction which is 8 kms away from Amritsar city center.

Do they stamp our passport?

This is a really important question. Many people are scared because if they get a stamp of Pakistan on their passport many countries won’t give them a visa. So, let me tell you it’s a visa-free corridor so no one will be going to put any stamp on your passport. Passport is only for security purposes.

How to go to the border from Dera Baba Nanak?

You will easily find cabs and autos to go to the border as well as there is a free bus service run by Shri Darbar Sahib Gurudwara (The India side one). In case you want to spend a night there, You will find some hotels there but I will strongly recommend you to stay in Darbar Sahib Gurudwara.

What are the documents we need?

First thing is that you should have a valid Indian Passport as well as Aadhar Card. For OCI cardholders OCI card number is required.You can’t visit Kartarpur if you don’t have a passport.

How to apply?

The whole process is online, so please don’t trust anyone saying that I will get your permission to give me some money or such thing. First, go to https://prakashpurb550.mha.gov.in/kpr/ and go for the option called apply online.You can see the home page of the website above.

Task-1:- form filling

Step 1:- Select your nationality (Indian or OCI cardholder)

Step 2:- Select journey date(You will get it as per the availability as only 5000 people allowed on one day)

Step 3:- You will get a form, which will ask of passport no./OCI card number, name, address etc

Step 4:- There will be a bigger form that will ask for basic info as well as will tell to upload your passport size photo in JPG and PDF FILE of both the pages(Different pdf of each page) of your passport and your blood group is a must.

Step 5:- This is all that you need to do online. After filling the form you will have an option to print the form. It is not needed in most of the cases but you never know so it is advised to keep a print out with you when you need it. You will get an SMS as well which will tell about your ID and all.

Task-2:- Verification by Ministry of Home Affairs

Maximum in 2 days One Officer form MHA will come to your home(registered address in passport/form) and will ask some normal questions like what do you do, which other countries you have traveled etc..

Task-3:- Police Verification

You will have to put the nearest police station in the form. They will call you most probably on the very next day of the verification of MHA. You will have to go there with 2 witnesses. It’s totally the same as passport verification.

Govt. haven’t taken any charges yet. If someone asks you about any charges, then he/she is asking for a bribe.

Task-4:- Downloading ETA

You will receive a confirmation SMS as well as mail which will include the link from which you will be able to download ETA. ETA=ELECTRONIC TRAVEL AUTHORIZATION. You will have to take a print out of it. Passport and ETA are the most important documents. You will not get entry into the corridor with they are not available in hardcopy.

Important Documents:-

--> ETA

--> Passport/OCI Card

--> Form (Security Purpose only)

Enter Fees:-

--> $20(USD) by Pakistan authorities.

Timings:-

--> It is open from sunrise to sunset.

--> First Entry at 7:30 AM and Last entry is allowed at 3 PM.

--> It is a single day trip. You can’t stay there at night, you have to come back by sunset.

--> You can’t go anywhere else in Pakistan. You are just allowed to go to Kartarpur Gurudwara and market nearby that.

Prohibitions:-

--> You can only take Luggage up to 7 KGs.

--> Customs will check your luggage. I don’t know what will they do if you have more so sorry for that.

--> You can only take 25000INR or 5000USD.

--> Smoking and Drinking is not allowed.

What to do when you reach there?

Let me tell you about the whole process. You will have to reach the Indian terminal which is made near Dera Baba Nanak. You will have to reach there between 7:30 AM to 3 PM. Its totally the same as the process which you do at the airport, Where Your ETA will work as your ticket as well as boarding pass and password will work as ID proof. So first at the entry gate of the terminal, your passport and ETA will be checked. Then you will get the entry. Then you will have your luggage check by customs. They will give you a form as well where you will have to put your details and how much cash and luggage you are carrying etc. I have already mentioned the limits above. So after that, you will have and security check and then immigration. You will have to pay 20USD at immigration. Immigration people will stamp your ETA. I am again saying they will not stamp your passport so there is nothing to worry about. After that, you will have one unique thing. Punjab Health Department will give you polio drops because India is polio-free but Pakistan isn’t. After this Health department will stamp your ETA as well and now you are ready to go. There will be electric vehicles available there they will take you to the Gurudwara in free.

Do we need to exchange to Pakistani Rupee?

No, There is no need to exchange Pakistani Rupees because everywhere INR is accepted. All the stores are accepting INR in the market nearby Gurudwara so there is no need of exchanging currency.

I have all the info available about this Kartarpur Corridor as it was going to be my first solo trip but I could not go because of COVID 19 pandemic. So if you have any queries feel free to contact me. You will find email Id and other contact detail in my bio.