India e-Visa: Step-by-Step Application Guide

India rejected over 10% of e-Visa applications in recent years — mostly for reasons that take 30 seconds to fix before you hit submit. Bad photos. Wrong visa type. Passport expiry miscalculation. Here’s how to get it right the first time.

The Three e-Visa Types and What They Actually Cover

Most travelers make one mistake before they even start: they assume there’s one India e-Visa. There are three, and picking the wrong one means a rejected application and a fee you won’t get back.

Critical distinction: the 30-day e-Tourist Visa counts from your arrival date. The 1-year and 5-year versions count from the issue date. Know which clock you’re on or you’ll miscalculate your stay.

e-Tourist Visa: The One Most People Need

Visiting Rajasthan, the Taj Mahal, a wedding, or a yoga retreat? You want the 30-day double-entry e-Tourist Visa. The double-entry matters if you’re doing a side trip to Nepal or Sri Lanka and returning to India mid-itinerary.

You cannot extend it once inside India. You cannot convert it to another visa category at an Indian immigration office. If your plans change and you need more time, you leave and reapply. That’s the rule.

The 1-year multiple-entry option costs just $15 more than the 30-day. If there’s any chance you’ll return within the year — or if your trip runs close to a month — pay the extra $15. It’s not worth the gamble on overstaying.

e-Business and e-Medical Visas

The e-Business Visa covers conferences, site visits, and meetings with Indian counterparts. It does not cover paid employment or contract work — that requires a separate employment visa processed through an Indian embassy or consulate, typically via VFS Global or BLS International depending on your country.

Medical visa holders can bring up to two attendants on an e-Medical Attendant Visa — same $25 fee, same 60-day window. You’ll need documentation from the Indian hospital confirming your treatment before applying.

Countries That Cannot Use the India e-Visa

Citizens of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Iran, Nepal, Bhutan, China, and several others cannot apply online. They must apply through an Indian embassy or consulate in person. The full exclusion list is posted at indianvisaonline.gov.in — check it before investing time in an application that won’t process.

If your country qualifies (169 nationalities do as of 2026, including the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and all EU member states), the portal is the fastest route in.

How to Apply: The Exact Steps

The official portal is indianvisaonline.gov.in. That’s where you apply. There are dozens of third-party sites — iVisa, VisaHQ, and generic “India visa” landing pages — that charge $50–$100 extra to fill in the same form you can complete yourself in 20 minutes. Skip them entirely.

Before You Start: What to Prepare

Have all of this ready before opening the application form. The portal times out, and losing a half-completed form is frustrating:

• Passport valid for at least 6 months beyond your arrival date in India
• Passport bio-data page scan — JPEG or PDF, under 1MB
• Passport-style photo: 2×2 inches, white background, taken recently, under 1MB
• Valid email address — your approval document arrives here as a PDF
• Credit or debit card (Visa, Mastercard, or Amex — some prepaid cards are declined)
• Your planned Indian port of arrival — this gets locked in and is hard to change
• First-night address in India — hotel name and city at minimum
• Parents’ full names and countries of birth — this field surprises most applicants

The Application Process, Step by Step

1. Go to indianvisaonline.gov.in and click Apply e-Visa
2. Select your nationality, intended arrival date, and port of entry (airport or seaport)
3. Choose visa type: Tourist, Business, or Medical
4. Enter personal details exactly as they appear in your passport — middle names included
5. Provide parents’ names and birthplaces (required regardless of applicant’s age)
6. Upload your photo and passport scan
7. Review every field — name spellings, passport number, date of birth
8. Pay the fee and note your Application ID immediately
9. Watch your inbox for the confirmation email, then the approval

Write that Application ID down somewhere offline. You need it to retrieve your visa if the confirmation email goes to spam or the portal has an error.

After Approval: What to Actually Do

Print the e-Visa PDF. Indian immigration wants a physical copy. Two copies is smarter — carry-on and checked bag. Email yourself the PDF as a backup.

Verify your entry airport is on the approved e-Visa ports list. The major international airports (Indira Gandhi in Delhi, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Mumbai, Kempegowda in Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Goa) all accept it. Smaller regional airports may not. If you’re flying into a tier-2 city, check the list before booking.

Photo and Document Requirements: The Questions That Trip People Up

What photo format does the portal actually accept?

The system is more particular than most people expect. Requirements:

• JPEG only — no PNG, no PDF for the photo field
• File size: 10KB minimum, 1MB maximum
• Minimum 350×350 pixels — aim for 600×600 or higher
• White or near-white background — not light gray, not cream
• Face fills 70–80% of the frame, centered, looking directly forward
• No glasses — this rule changed in 2018 and still catches people using older photos
• Neutral expression, mouth closed, no hat or head covering (unless religious)
• Taken within the last 6 months

Phone photos work fine in good lighting against a white wall. If the portal flags your image, background color is almost always the problem. Tools like remove.bg can swap out backgrounds to pure white in seconds.

What if my passport expires within 6 months of my travel dates?

Renew it. The 6-month validity rule is calculated from your arrival date, not your departure date. Indian immigration at the airport will refuse entry if your passport expires within 6 months of when you land — no exceptions, no appeals at the gate. The e-Visa portal won’t flag this for you; it’ll issue a valid visa on a passport that gets you rejected on arrival.

Do I need travel insurance documents to apply?

No. India’s e-Visa application doesn’t require proof of travel insurance. You won’t upload any policy documents. The only mandatory uploads are your photo and passport scan. That said, if you’re already booking flights and planning logistics, sort the visa first — your approval email is sometimes requested when booking certain tour packages or domestic Indian trains through third-party platforms.

Why Applications Get Rejected — and How to Avoid Each Cause

The Indian Bureau of Immigration doesn’t explain rejections in detail. You get a terse “not approved” email. The fee is non-refundable. You can reapply immediately — but you need to diagnose what went wrong or you’ll hit the same wall twice.

Photo errors are the single biggest rejection cause

Roughly 40% of rejections come down to the photo. The portal does basic file validation — wrong format, wrong size — but it doesn’t visually check your image against the requirements. Human reviewers do. Common failures that get past the upload screen but cause rejection:

• Off-white or light gray background (looks white in person, fails in review)
• Glasses — thin frames, prescription lenses, any glasses
• Shadows across the face or behind the head
• Head tilt, off-center framing, or eyes not fully visible
• Scanned copy of an old printed passport photo — usually too low-resolution and shows physical artifacts
• Photo that’s more than 6 months old

Take a fresh photo specifically for this application. Don’t recycle the one from your last passport renewal three years ago.

Name and passport detail mismatches

Your application details must match your passport exactly — every character, every middle name, every hyphen. If your passport reads “JAMES ROBERT SMITH”, submitting “JAMES SMITH” is a mismatch. Hyphenated surnames, names with accented characters, and names with double spacing all need to match the passport precisely.

Single-name passports — common in parts of South Asia, West Africa, and Indonesia — require a specific workaround. Enter your full name in the surname field. In the given name field, type “FNU” (First Name Unknown). This is the accepted convention and the portal handles it correctly.

The two e-Visa per year cap

India limits tourists to two e-Tourist Visas per calendar year. If you’ve already visited India once on a 30-day e-Visa, you can get one more. A third visit within the same calendar year requires a regular tourist visa from an Indian embassy or consulate — processed through VFS Global or BLS International depending on your country of residence. This rule catches frequent visitors who’ve never heard of it.

The 4-day minimum lead time is another trap. Your application must be submitted at least 4 days before your intended arrival. The portal technically enforces this, but immigration advisors recommend at least 7 days — and during peak season, 14 days minimum.

Processing Time: What the Government Claims vs. What Actually Happens

The official timeline

India’s official position: 72 business hours. Apply Monday morning, approved by Thursday afternoon. That holds during slow travel months — roughly April through September, excluding Indian public holidays.

Apply at least 7–10 days before travel. During October through February, apply 14 days out. India’s peak tourist season runs October through March. Diwali season (October/November) and Christmas and New Year travel generate application spikes that push processing to 5–7 business days routinely, sometimes longer.

What to do if your visa doesn’t arrive

There is no expedite option. No premium processing tier. No way to jump the queue by paying more. Once you submit, you wait.

If your approval hasn’t arrived 3 business days before travel, email the Indian e-Visa helpdesk at [email protected] with your Application ID and passport number. Response times from the helpdesk vary — sometimes a few hours, sometimes a day — but a follow-up email typically triggers a manual status check. If email gets no response within 24 hours, call the India Tourism India helpline for your country.

Keep your Application ID in a place you can access without internet. You’ll need it for any follow-up, and it’s also required to retrieve your approval PDF if the email goes missing.

India Entry Options Side by Side

The e-Visa covers most scenarios but it’s not the only path in. Here’s how the main options compare:

For most tourists, the e-Visa is the clear choice. Faster than an embassy visa, available 24/7 online, no appointment needed. If you’re planning a trip that doubles as a romantic trip to Kerala or Rajasthan, the 1-year multiple-entry e-Visa at $40 is worth $15 more than the 30-day version — just for the flexibility.

Quick-reference summary:

• First-time tourist, trip under 30 days: e-Tourist Visa, 30-day double-entry, $25
• Longer trip or likely to return within a year: e-Tourist Visa, 1-year multiple-entry, $40
• Business meetings or conferences: e-Business Visa, $80
• Third visit this calendar year: Regular tourist visa via VFS Global or BLS International
• Not eligible for e-Visa: Indian embassy or consulate — check if VFS Global services your country
• Indian-origin traveler: OCI card — pay once, never apply for a visa again