Indian e-visa: Eligibility, how to apply, documents required and everything else you need to know

By: Express Web Desk | New Delhi | Published: January 24, 2020 5:03:04 pm

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The e-visa is issued to international travelers hailing from 168 nations, (Source: File photo)

The e-visa or electronic visa by the government is admissible to international travelers for the exclusive purpose of visiting India for a temporary stay. The e-visa is non-extendable, non-convertible and not valid for visiting restricted/protected/cantonment areas unless special permission is granted.

The e-visa is issued under five subcategories including the e-tourist visas that can be issued for 30 days, a year or five years depending on a specific case and its requirements. Other categories are e-business visa, e-medical visa, e-medical attendant visa, and e-conference visa.

Eligibility criteria for Indian e-visa

*In order to apply for the e-visa, the applicant’s passport should have a minimum validity of six months.

*A return ticket and sufficient money to spend once in the country is mandatory.

*The nature of the applicant’s stay should be temporary in nature and may include casual visits, tourist purposes, short term programs or courses that cannot exceed a period of six months and voluntary work that cannot exceed a period of a month.

*Other purposes of temporary nature can be medical treatments under the Indian systems of medicines, business conferences or formal workshops.

Currently, the Indian e-visa is granted to nationals of a total of 168 countries and is not available for Diplomatic and official passport holders as well as those individuals who are endorsed on a parent’s or a spouse’s passport.

In order to apply for e-tourists and e-business visas, a minimum four days window before the date of arrival should be kept

For the other three categories, the applicant has to apply a minimum four days before the date of arrival. The date of arrival can be extended to a window of 120 days for these categories only.

Documents required for Indian e-visa

*A recent passport size photo against a white background. For the digital picture, the obligatory format is JPEG with a minimum size of 10 KB and a maximum size of 1 MB.

*The photo or the bio page of the passport that would contain the personal details of the applicant. This should be scanned in a PDF format with a minimum size of 10 KB and a maximum size of 300 KB.

*Other documents for business and medical purposes are to be uploaded depending on the visa type and specific requirements. The documents, however, should only be in a PDF format with a minimum size of 10 KB and a maximum size of 300 KB.

*While traveling to India applicants should carry a copy of Electronic Travel Authorization or ETA and the status of the ETA should be granted before the commencement of the applicant’s journey.

Indian e-visa fees

The e-visa fee differs depending on the country and is country/territory specific. An additional charge of 2.5 per cent will be charged additionally as bank transfer charges.

The fee once submitted is non-refundable and should be submitted at least four days before the estimated arrival date.

How to apply for an Indian e-visa

Step 1: Apply online with the required aforementioned documents.

A sample E-Visa application can be accessed here.

Step2: Pay an E-Visa fee online using a credit/Debit card or an online wallet.

Step3: Receive ETA online which will be sent to your mail.

Step4: Once the application is completed and you have been granted the E-Visa print your ETA and all other documents to show at the Indian immigration.

Apply for E-Visa here