Visa to India

Obtaining a Visa For India

Your Essential Guide to Getting an E-Visa for India.

All visitors (Except Nepal and Bhutan) planning to Visit India need a visa. The Indian government has now introduced one-year, multiple-entry electronic visas for citizens of 166 countries in the world.

If you are nationals of following countries than you are eligible for e-Visa.

A- Albania, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan

B- Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia an Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burundi.

C- Cambodia, Cameroon Union Republic, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Island, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cote d’lvoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic

D- Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic.

E- East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia.

F- Fiji, Finland, France,

G- Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana.

H- Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Hong Kong, Macau,

I- Iceland, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy.

J- Jamaica, Japan, Jordan.

K- Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati,Kyrgyzstan.

L-Laos, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg.

M- Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Mozambique, Myanmar.

N- Namibia, Nauru, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger Republic, Niue Island, Norway.

O- Oman.

P- Palau, Palestine, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal.

Q- Qatar.

R- Republic of Korea, Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Russia, Rwanda.

S- Saint Christopher and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland.

T- Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Island, Taiwan, Tuvalu.

U- UAE Uganda,Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay, USA, Uzbekistan.

V- Vanuatu, Vatican City-Holy See, Venezuela, Vietnam.

W,X,Y–

Z- Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The official website of Indian Govt. to Apply E-visa is– https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/index.html

The Indian government has widened the scope of the visa scheme to include short duration medical treatment and yoga courses, and casual business visits and conferences. Previously, these required separate medical/ student/ business visas.

Broadly e-Visa can be divided into three categories:

e-Tourist Visa
e-Business Visa
e-Medical Visa

Two additional categories — e-Medical Attendant Visa and e-Conference Visa — have since been added. Up to two e-Medical Attendant visas will be granted against one e-Medical Visa.
The visa categories can be clubbed together. However, e-Conference visas are only permitted to be clubbed with e-Tourist visas.

The validity of E-Tourist visas and E-Business visas has been extended to one year from the date of grant of the Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA), subject to limitations on the length of continuous stay. Multiple entries are permitted.

What Type of Visa is Required for India?

Visitors staying in India for less than 72 hours can obtain a Transit visa (a confirmed airline booking for the onward journey must be shown when applying), otherwise, an Indian Tourist visa is necessary.

The length of the Tourist visa will depend on your nationality.

Citizens of the United States, Canada and Japan are given Tourist visas of up to 10 years validity. In addition, five-year Tourist visas are increasingly becoming available for people from most countries, where biometric enrollment facilities are available. Otherwise, Tourist visas are generally issued for three or six months, or one year. The visas are usually multiple entry visas.

Important thing-

E-Visa is valid from the date of issue, NOT the date of arrival in India.
In addition, no matter how long your Tourist visa is valid for, you’re not permitted to remain in India for more than six months (180 days) at a time. Furthermore, some Tourist visas only allow stays of up to three months at a time.
Other types of visas that are available for visitors to India include Business Visas, Employment visas, Intern visas, Research visas, Student visas, Journalist visas, and Film visas.

Eligibility for e-Visa

International travellers whose sole objective for visiting India is recreation, sightseeing,casual visit to visit friends and relatives, attending a short term yoga programme, medical treatment including treatment under Indian systems of medicine, business purpose, as attendant to e-Medical visa holder, attending a conference/ seminar/ workshop organized by a Ministry or Department of the Government of India, State Governments or UT Administrations etc. & their subordinate/ attached organizations & PSUs and no other purpose/activity.

Passport should have at least six months validity from the date of arrival in India. The passport should have at least two blank pages for stamping by the Immigration Officer.

International Travellers should have return ticket or onward journey ticket, with sufficient money to spend during his/her stay in India.

If the country of origin of the international traveler is Pakistan and he is possessing a Pakistani Passport, then he will be required to apply for a normal Visa at the Indian Mission.
Not available to Diplomatic/Official Passport Holders or Laissez-passer travel document holders.

Not available to individuals endorsed on Parent’s/Spouse’s Passport i.e. each individual should have a separate passport.

Not available to International Travel Document Holders other than Passport.

Instructions for e-Visa

It is necessary that the permitted nationals must apply for an e-Visa online, minimum of 4 days in advance of their date of arriving in India, with a window of 365 days. For example, if a person is applying for an e-Visa on 1st November then his / her date of arrival should be 5th November to 30th October next year.

For e-Medical, e-Medical Attendant and e-Conference visa, Applicants of the eligible countries/territories may apply online minimum 4 days in advance of the date of arrival with a window of 120 days. Example: If you are applying on 1st Sept then applicant can select arrival date from 5th Sept to 2nd Jan.

e-Visa fee is country/Territory specific. Bank transaction charges of 2.5% will be charged additionally on applicable e-Visa fees. The fee must be paid at least 4 days before the expected date of travel otherwise application will not be processed.

Along with the application of e-Visa, other documents are also required. This documentation includes a recent photograph with white-color background. The photo page in the passport must contain personal details such as name of the holder, date of birth, nationality, expiry date and so on. Also, one more document is required depending on the type of e-Visa. If the documents and the photographs that have been uploaded are not clear, then, the application can get rejected.

24 designated airports allow entry to an e-Visa applicant, namely, Varanasi, Trivandrum, Tiruchirapalli, Pune, Nagpur, Mumbai, Mangalore, Lucknow, Kolkata, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Goa, Gaya, Delhi, Coimbatore, Cochin, Chandigarh, Chennai, Calicut, Bengaluru, Bagdogra, Ahmedabad and Amritsar. There also are 3 designated seaports for the same i.e. Mangalore, Cochin, and Goa. However, exit can be done from any of the authorized Immigration Check Posts (ICPs) in India.

E-Visa fee once submitted is non-refundable as the fee is for processing of the application and is not dependent on either Grant or Rejection of Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA).

At the time of travelling, carrying a copy of ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization) is mandatory for the applicant. Before starting your journey, make sure that the status of ETA is ‘GRANTED.

Biometric details of the applicant will be mandatorily captured at Immigration on arrival in India.

The e-Visa fee payment status updation may take up to 2 hours due to technical reasons/network delays. Before re-applying, the applicants are requested to wait for 2 hours for payment status updating, after final submission of the application form and payment of the fee. In cases, where e-Visa fee has been deducted but status is not updated, the applicants are advised to verify their payment status by clicking on ‘Verify Payment/Pay Visa Fee’ tab or by clicking on the link Verify Payment.

Nationals of Yellow Fever affected countries or travellers arriving from these countries, must carry YELLOW FEVER VACCINATION CARD at the time of arrival in India, otherwise they may be quarantined for 6 days upon arrival in India. Please visit our Ministry Of Health & Family Welfare latest guidelines regarding yellow fever countries here.

You must travel on the Passport which you have applied for eVisa.

Please be aware that an e-Visa is non-convertible and non-extendable. Also, if you wish to visit Cantonment areas of Restricted / Protected Areas, an e-Visa is not valid for that. For visiting these areas, special prior permission has to be taken from the Civil Authority.

If your number of unsuccessful attempts for applying for an e-Visa goes up from three, then the application id will be blocked automatically. Thus one must be very careful while paying the fees of the e-Visa. If unsuccessful attempts have been more than three, then the applicant needs to apply afresh. Fill the application form again so that a new application id can be generated.

The official website of Indian Govt. to Apply E-visa is– https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/index.html

Official Cost of e-Visa

After the changes made to e-Visa fees in June 2018, Citizens of Some countries are exempted from e-Visa fee. Whereas citizens of some countries have to pay more. The visa fee depends on the nature of the reciprocal relationship between India and each country. A detailed fee chart is available here. There are four different fee amounts, ranging from zero to $100, which are applicable as follows:

Free:Citizens of Argentina, Cook Islands, Fiji, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Micronesia, Myanmar, Nauru, Niue Island, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uruguay and Vanuatu.
$25: Citizens of Japan, Singapore and Sri Lanka.
$80: Citizens of the majority of countries including Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.
$100: Citizens of US, UK, Russia, Ukraine and Mozambique.

In addition to the visa fee, a bank charge of 2.5% of the fee must be paid.

How often you can apply for E-visa-?

Earlier In a calendar year, between the months of January and December, an e-Visa can be applied maximum for 2 times. But now You can apply as often as you want. The limit of times in a calendar year has been removed.

When applying for your e-Visa, do be aware that a number of commercial websites have been created to look similar to the government of India’s official website, and they claim to provide online visa services to tourists.

The official website of Indian Govt. to Apply E-visa is– https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/index.html

Do you want us to apply e-visa for you ?

Planning to visit India – Experience a hassle-free application process for your India visas. We process and deliver visa in timely manner. You can drop us an email on [email protected]

Disclaimer: The visas are issued at the sole discretion of the respective Governments, and we cannot guarantee that. We don’t have any affiliation with any government agency. You have the option to apply for a visa by making use of the Government website or visiting the Embassy/Consulate for which you will not be charged a service fee.