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

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

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