
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
If you are a national of any following countries, you are eligible for e-visa
- Andorra
- Albania
- Angola
- Anguilla
- Antigua & Barbuda
- Argentina
- Armenia
- Aruba
- Australia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Belize
- Benin
- Bolivia
- Bosnia & Herzegovina
- Botswana
- Brazil
- Brunei
- Bulgaria
- Burundi
- Cambodia
- Cameroon Union Republic
- Canada
- Cape Verde
- Cayman Island
- Chile
- China
- China- SAR Hongkong
- China- SAR Macau
- Colombia
- Comoros
- Cook Islands
- Costa Rica
- Cote d’Ivoire
- Croatia
- Cuba
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Djibouti
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- East Timor
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
- Eritrea
- Estonia
- Fiji
- Finland
- France
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Georgia
- Germany
- Ghana
- Greece
- Grenada
- Guatemala
- Guinea
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Jamaica
- Japan
- Jordan
- Kazakhstan
- Kenya
- Kiribati
- Kyrgyzstan
- Laos
- Latvia
- Lesotho
- Liberia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Malaysia
- Mali
- Malta
- Marshall Islands
- Mauritius
- Mexico
- Micronesia
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Mongolia
- Montenegro
- Montserrat
- Mozambique
- Myanmar
- Namibia
- Nauru
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Nicaragua
- Niger Republic
- Niue Island
- Norway
- Oman
- Palau
- Palestine
- Panama
- Papua New Guinea
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Philippines
- Poland
- Portugal
- Qatar
- Republic of Korea
- Republic of Macedonia
- Romania
- Russia
- Rwanda
- Saint Christopher and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent & the Grenadines
- Samoa
- San Marino
- Saudi Arabia
- Senegal
- Serbia
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leone
- Singapore
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Solomon Islands
- South Africa
- Spain
- Sri Lanka
- Suriname
- Swaziland
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Taiwan
- Tajikistan
- Tanzania
- Thailand
- Tonga
- Trinidad & Tobago
- Turks & Caicos Island
- Tuvalu
- UAE
- Uganda
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- Uruguay
- USA
- Uzbekistan
- Vanuatu
- Vatican City-Holy See
- Venezuela
- Vietnam
- Zambia and Zimbabwe