E-Visa for India

The e-Visa for India is very easy to apply for in just four steps. In comparison to the Regular Visa which has various categories and a lengthy process, the e-Visa for India has only 5 categories:  e-Tourist Visa, e-Business Visa, e-Conference Visa, e-Medical Visa and e-Medical Attendant Visa. Make sure that you are applying for the e-Visa on the official website of the Indian government! 

Categories of the e-Visa 

The e-Tourist Visa 

You are eligible for this type of visa when travelling to India for touristic purposes or to visit family and friends. You can apply for an e-Tourist Visa for either 30 days, 1 year or 5 years. 

In addition to that, the e-Tourist Visa also allows you to attend courses for yoga, language, music, dance, crafts, cooking and healing practises of a short duration. The conditions for all above mentioned courses are they are not supposed to be a professional education with an official certificate and they should not be longer than 6 months. Applicants are eligible for an e-Tourist Visa even for voluntary work for less than a month. But you should not be compensated or paid for it. For the application you need a letter of the organisation or institute which states the duration of the courses or the voluntary work.

The e-Business Visa 

For various kinds of business trips you can easily apply for the e-Business Visa for India. It is important for the application to show your business card in English. Additionally, you have an option to show an invitation letter which you have received from the companies you will be working with in India. 

If you are going to give or attend lectures and presentations of the ‘Global Initiative for Academic Networks (GIAN)’ you may  also apply for the e-Business Visa. The required documents are an invitation letter from the Indian institute to the German institute that sends you to India, an approval letter from the National Coordinating Institute that the lectures or presentations are taking places within the GIAN and a summary of the courses offered by your faculty. 

The e-Conference Visa

If you are planning to attend a conference, a seminar or a workshop then you can apply for an e-Conference Visa for India. The event has to be organised by one of the following: an Indian Ministry, a governmental organisation, a private person,  a registered organisation or a company. 

The required documents are an invitation letter for the event and the approval letter of the event from the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs and from the Indian Ministry of External Affairs. 

The e-Medical Visa

This visa allows you to enter India for a medical treatment. You are required to show an approval of the Indian physician or hospital which states the medical procedure and the estimated date of the treatment. 

The e-Medical Attendant Visa 

In case you want to accompany a family member or a friend during their medical treatment in India you should apply for the e-Medical Attendant Visa. But please consider that for each e-Medical Visa only two Attendant Visas are issued. 

The process for obtaining an e-Visa for India 

The process is relatively simple and can be described in four steps. In the first step you have to fill the online application form and upload a scan of the first page of your passport and a passport sized photograph. The photo should comply with the biometric norms, which you can find on the website for the e-Visa application. In the second step you have to pay the visa fee online, using either Credit/ Debit card or your payment wallet. 

In the next step you will receive an electronic travel authorization (ETA) via e-Mail within 24 hours. You should make sure the status of the ETA shows ‘GRANTED’ before you print it. In the last step you have to show the print-out of your ETA at the immigration counter in India. For checking the status of your visa application, please enter your application number on the website under ‘Check your Visa Status’! 

You should apply at least 4 days prior to your travel for all the categories of the e-Visa for India. For the e-Conference Visa, the e-Medical and e-Medical Attendant Visa you are allowed to enter India within 120 days from the approval of your visa application. So if you apply on September 1st and your visa is granted you have the possibility to enter India between September 5th and January 2nd (which is 120 days). 

Fees for the e-Visa 

Every e-Visa for India costs 80 USD. Only for the e-Tourist Visa you have the following scale of prices: 

30 days: April-June 10 USD (8 EUR)/ July-March 25 USD (20 EUR)

1 year: 40 USD (34 EUR)

5 years: 80 USD (67 EUR)

Please consider that while paying the visa fees online there can be a network delay for up to two hours. So if your payment status doesn’t change immediately, wait for at least two hours before making another payment. If the payment has been deducted from your account but the status doesn't  change please click on ‘Verify Payment/ Pay Visa Fee’ on the website to verify your mode of payment. 

Additionally, there will be a bank transaction fee of 2,5%. The payment of the visa fees has to be completed at least 4 days prior to the travel, otherwise your application will not be processed. None of the visa fees are refundable, regardless of whether the visa will be granted in the form of the ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization) or not. 

Good to know!

Neither people with a passport or the origin of Pakistan nor individuals with a diplomatic passport are eligible for applying for the e-Visa for India. Every person has to apply with their own passport. So it does not suffice to be named as a spouse in your partner’s passport to be granted an e-Visa for India. Furthermore, the application is only open for passport holders, no other identification certificate is allowed. 

When applying for the e-Visa your passport has to be valid for at least another 6 months. If you are entering India with another passport than the one you got your ETA with, you are obligated to bring the old passport as well!

Please make sure that the scans, photos and other documents which you upload during the process are clear. So you can avoid rejection on that basis. 

In general, e-Visa for India are not extendable, not convertible and are not valid for areas which require special travel permissions (such as various regions in India’s Northeast).

Upon your arrival you should already have a return flight ticket or at least a ticket for leaving India. Sometimes the immigration officers will also ask you for proof of financial means to be able to support yourself during the trip. At the immigration counter your photos will be taken. If you have recently visited a country with high risk for yellow fever the immigration office can impose a mandatory quarantine. Please refer to the official website of the Ministry for Health & Family Welfare to check the latest regulations. 

We hope this article was helpful for you and we wish you all the best for your trip to India! If you have further questions or you want to share your experiences with the e-Visa for India please write to us!

Status of information as of July 2021 (for recent updates please check https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/)

Written by: Tanja Holbe

Cover Photo: Illustration (Credit: Ananya Singh)

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