India visa

An Indian visa looks intimidating. For a normal holiday it is one online application.

1. Apply for an e-Tourist Visa on indianvisaonline.gov.in/evisa, the only official site.
2. Wait for the email saying your ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization) is GRANTED, and print it.
3. Submit the e-Arrival Card in the 72 hours before landing.
4. Fly to one of the designated airports. Immigration takes your biometrics and stamps the visa into your passport.

An e-Visa does not cover employment, journalism, NGO work or long formal courses. For those, a regular visa through an Indian mission is the route.

Passport holders of more than 170 countries and territories are on the e-Visa list. Fees are set per nationality. The portal's eligibility list and fee table are the only reliable check for your passport: eligibility and fees.

Not eligible for an e-Visa:

• holders of Pakistani passports and people of Pakistani origin, including those whose parents or grandparents were born or lived permanently in Pakistan (they apply for a regular visa at an Indian mission);
• people with a defence, military, security or police background, serving or retired: the portal says they are not eligible and must apply for a regular visa; hiding it can mean refusal of entry and deportation;
• diplomatic and official passports, laissez-passer and most travel documents;
• children entered in a parent's passport (each traveller needs their own passport and their own application).

Visa on arrival exists only for nationals of Japan, South Korea and the UAE (for UAE nationals, only if they have held an Indian e-Visa or regular visa before). Everyone else must have the ETA granted before flying.

The portal lists more categories (e-Transit, e-Film, e-Production Investment and others). These are the common ones.

All three allow multiple entries. The fee grows with validity, so pick the shortest option that covers your plans.

The 180-day rule. On the 1-year and 5-year e-Tourist Visa you may spend no more than 180 days in India per calendar year, counted across all entries. These visas are for repeat trips, not one long stay.

Have these ready before you open the form. The portal rejects files that do not match its specifications.

The portal estimates 10–15 minutes for the form and payment; allow more time to prepare the photo and the scan. When: no earlier than 120 days and no later than 4 days before arrival. Aim for the middle of the window and keep a 7–10 day buffer: a re-upload request or a failed payment needs room, not panic.

Only through designated checkpoints. As of October 2026 the portal lists 36 airports (all the big hubs, both Goa airports, Dabolim and Mopa, and cities such as Varanasi, Jaipur and Amritsar), 38 seaports and 12 land checkpoints on the borders with Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

The list changes, and the portal is not consistent about land borders: its FAQ says e-Visa holders enter only through the listed airports and seaports. If you plan to arrive overland, confirm with the Indian mission first; for air arrivals, check your exact airport on the portal before you buy tickets.

An e-Visa does not let you enter Protected, Restricted or Cantonment areas. Those need prior permission from the civil authorities; check whether your route crosses one before you go.

A regular (paper) visa is issued by an Indian embassy or consulate, often through an outsourced visa centre. You need one if your passport is not eligible for an e-Visa, if you are coming to work (e-Visa is not allowed for employment), for journalism or NGO activities, or if your plans fit no e-Visa category.

Timelines and documents depend on the mission, so start early and follow the instructions of the Indian mission where you live. The online form starts at indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa.

• Applying on a look-alike site. Middlemen styled like government pages charge two to three times the fee, and some harvest passport scans.
• Paying for an 'urgent' visa. The Government of India has no emergency or express e-Visa fee. Anyone selling one is charging for nothing.
• A photo that fails the specs: shadows, glasses, a busy background, not square.
• Applying too late. The 4-day minimum is a floor, not a plan.
• Paying twice after a slow payment confirmation. Wait 2 hours first.
• Leaving the previous-visa field empty. It is mandatory; if you do not remember the details, write NA.
• Booking a flight into an airport not on the e-Visa list.
• Forgetting the e-Arrival Card.

An e-Visa cannot be extended or converted into another visa. Plan the trip around the visa you hold, and if you need longer, apply for the right category before you travel. Leaving and coming straight back does not reset anything: the 180-day yearly cap counts every entry, and immigration sees the pattern in your passport.

If something goes wrong while you are in India (illness, a lost passport, a missed flight), the official channel is the e-FRRO portal, indianfrro.gov.in, run by the Bureau of Immigration. Exit permits and other services for foreigners are requested there.

Overstaying is a violation of Indian immigration law. Before you can leave you need an exit permit (Bureau of Immigration), and the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 (section 23) allows up to three years' imprisonment, a fine of up to ₹3 lakh (₹300,000), or both. The FRRO handles each case, and the Bureau of Immigration warns that visa violations affect future visas and entry; details are in the [visa extension and overstay guide](/en/guide/visa-extension/). If you realise you are about to overstay, contact the FRRO through e-FRRO before the visa runs out, not after.