Getting Indian visa use to be a cumbersome process riddled with confusing forms and opaque rules. However, Government of India, specially in past decade, has followed visitor friendly visa policies and making it possible to get evisa online.
While most of travelers from western countries do not require visa except when traveling to India, China or CIS countries. In case of Indian visa for tourism (including medical tourism) can be obtained online with minimum documentation.
Who Needs India Visa?
Almost everyone except citizens of Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives do not require any visa. Citizens of Japan and South Korea can also apply for visa on arrival that is valid of 60 days. Although most of the travelers do need visa for India but process is very simple and straightforward.
Citizens of Nepal and Bhutan do not require visas or passports to enter India except when arriving from mainland China. They can stay and work as long as they wish. Foreigner holding a OCI card also do not require visa.
As of 2019 citizens of 166 countries can apply online for Indian e-Visa
How To Apply For Indian eVisa Online
There are plenty of websites offering to process Indian visa for a fee however, given the simplicity of applying for Indian visa online it is best to do so at official website. Link to official website is here
Visa fee is charges on the basis of reciprocality. It means Indian government will charge a visa fee equivalent to what your country charges to Indian citizens. It ranges from no charge to $25, $80 and $100. You will also pay credit card fee of 2.5% (3.5% if payment by PayPal)
Free, No visa fee for 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 for citizens of Japan, Singapore and Sri Lanka. Citizens of Japan can also avail free visa on arrival (60 days) facilities.
$80 for most of the western countries and citizens of 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
Citizens of US, UK, Russia, Ukraine and Mozambique are unfortunately charged highest visa fee of US$100.
Countries That Do Not Qualify For Indian eVisa
There are very few countries that do not qualify for Indian e-visa system. They need to apply for a paper visa from an embassy near them. Most of these countries are in either in conflict zone or too far off small island. However there are few notable exceptions that surprisingly do not get Indian visa online viz: Belarus, Egypt, Kuwait and Morocco.
Citizen’s of neighboring countries of India namely Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are also not eligible for online visa. Citizen of any country whose parents or grandparents were born or lived in Pakistan are not eligible for eVisa.
- Afghanistan, Algeria
- Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Benin, Burkina Faso
- Central African Republic, Chad, Congo
- Egypt, Ethiopia
- Guinea-Bissau
- Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon,
- Libya, Morocco, Nigeria, North Korea
- Pakistan
- São Tomé and Príncipe, Somalia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic
- Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan
Helpful Points For Completing Visa Form
Although Indian visa application is simple and straightforward there are few questions that needs to be answered carefully. A wrong answer may delay your visa application. Please consider answer to below fields
Date of Birth
Calendar of online for is bit tricky. Sometimes, it does not display month of your birth. In such case, start by inputting your year of the birth, the entire 12 month calendar will be accessible thereafter.
Any other valid Passport/Identity Certificate(IC) held
If you hold dual nationality, it must be declared on visa application.
Religion
If your religion or spiritual belief system is not listed in the menu please do not answer NONE. The best way is to choose Others and write about it the text box.
Visible Identification Marks
If you have any obvious identification mark such as scar, mole or tattoo you may mention the same. If you don’t, just write NONE
Education Level
Education level as classified and understood by Indian officials may not be same elsewhere. For example, an undergraduate as per USA system is referred as graduate in India whereas US graduate is classified as post graduate.
In order to avoid confusion, follow below given table
| Illiterate | One who has never been to school |
| Below Matriculation | Studies 9th grade or lower |
| Matriculation | Completed 10th grade/ 10 years of education |
| Higher Secondary | Completed 12 years of formal education |
| Graduate | Holding a bachelor level college degree |
| Post Graduate | Hold a master level college degree or Phd |
| Professional | Hold professional degree such as CPA, Doctor |
Present & Permanent Address
The permanent address is generally a place where you live which is usually listed address in your primary passport or driving license. The temporary address is address of place where you can receive correspondence. If you are applying while traveling in a third country, generally hotel address can be listed as temporary address.
Employment
You can list your employment as student, professional, doctor etc. as the case may be. However, if you are working in the field of journalism avoid mentioning it because you may be asked to apply for journalist visa which are difficult to get and takes longer time.
Never mentioned Unemployed even if you are. Just choose option Other and make up any thing as your employment.
Countries Visited in the Last 10 Years
List every country visited in last 10 years because non disclosure may be a ground of rejection. When asked about visit to SAARC countries please mention visit to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka in past 3 years.
FAQ about Applying Indian eVisa
The official website for submission of evisa application is https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/. There are several other websites which basically takes your information and resubmits application but it is advisable to use official website.
Payment can be made using international credit cards.
Generally three business days after submission of complete forms, documents and payment. It may take extra time in special cases specially for nationals who do not qualify for evisa.
The progress of evisa can be tracked at https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/StatusEnquiry All you need is application ID and passport number.
Currently evisa is given for one year multiple entry with permission to stay 90 days per entry. There should be a gap of 60 days between visits unless you are travelling to neighbouring countries and have ticket to onward destination (home) from India. Citizen of UK, USA and Russia may get longer duration visa.
You will still need to fill up application form, print out and attach relevant documents. The form along with 2″x2″ photo with White background along with fee can be submitted at the nearest Indian embassy, consulate or high commision.
What we should do in case of rejection of e visa. Please share some suggestions.
Indian e visa specially for the applicants of western countries are seldom rejected. Helpline number would not give you reason for rejection which could be as trivial as entering date in US format (mm/dd/yy) in application or upload of photo with wrong specification.
You may go through your saved application to check if you missed something. You may apply again or better yet, visit nearest Indian mission to apply for visa in person. Hope this helps 🙂