If you are planning to visit India you will need to get a e-Tourist visa to enter the country. Here is our step-by-step guide to help you apply for your India e-Visa.
Why you need a visa to enter India?
Everyone needs a visa to visit and travel in India. But for most nationalities a tourist visa is easy to get.
Citizens of 164 countries – including US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, most nations in the EU and many countries in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East – can apply for an e-Visa for India before traveling.
When to apply?
What you need before applying?
- Passport photo: A recent passport photo of yourself that is at least 10KB and a maximum 1MB. The photo must show the full face with a white or light-coloured background. The photo must be in JPEG format.
- Scanned Passport ID Page: Scanned ID page of your passport in PDF format. Size must be between 10KB and 300KB.
- Fees: You can make an online payment for your India e-Visa using a VISA or MasterCard or via PayPal.
Note also that your passport needs to be valid for six months beyond the date of entry and you need two spare pages for the visa, which will be physically stamped into your passport on your arrival in India.
How to apply?
Fill out the first page with generic information about yourself as well as your email address. This where you will receive the e-Visa.
Under “Visa Service” you can choose the type of Visa you want to apply for:
- eTourist Visa (for 30 Days)
- eTourist Visa (for 1 Year)
- eTourist Visa (for 5 Years)
The 30 days, 1 year and 5 year e-Tourist Visa validity period begins from the date of first arrival in India.
It is not related to when you submit the e-Visa application.
If applying for a 30-Day India Visa your successful application will be granted with 30 days until the Date of Expiry of the ETA (Electronic Travel Authorisation). Therefore, if you select the 30-day visa, your visa validity starts as soon as you are approved.
For Eg, if your arrive India on 15 Mar, than you can mention 14 Mar (a day before), for peace of mind.
Select ordinary passport (unless you have another type), your nationality, and port of arrival (For eg, if you arrive in Delhi, you can select Delhi Airport).
Under Visa Service, select eTourist Visa and Recreation/Sight-seeing.
You have the option to apply for a 30-day or 1-year visa, or 05 years in case you wish to plan visits in India in the coming years too.
The second page of the application asks you to fill in more information about yourself.
You may type “None” next to ‘Visible Identification Marks’ if you do not have any to note.
Take note of the Temporary Application ID number that pops up at this stage (just in case you hit save and exit the application by mistake). You will need this to log back in if you exit the page.
The last question under ‘Applicant Details’ asks, “Have you lived for at least two years in the country where you are applying visa?”
This refers to the country you currently/usually live in and not your birth country (and not India), in case they are different.
On the third page you need to fill in all the current information about your present and permanent address.
You need to provide your family information (Mother and Father’s details) as well as your profession, occupation and marital status.
You are also asked on this page if your parents of Grandparents (paternal or maternal) are of Pakistani heritage.
This page requires information about your travel plans in India including your expected Port of Arrival, planned Port of Exit and places you have previously visited in India.
Under ‘Other Information’ you are also required to list the countries you have visited in the last 10 years.
However, the answer box for visited countries can only fit a certain number (about 15 – 20) of country names until it is full.
The next step asks if you have visited SAARC countries during the last three years.
SAARC stands for South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and has eight member countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka). You will need to list any of these if you have visited recently.
Enter the below details for your reference in India, as well as your personal reference at home (think of your personal reference as an emergency contact)
Contact Information in India:
Indus Bound
S-60, Hargovind Enclave, Chattarpur
New Delhi - 110074, India
Tel: +91-9056128455
Contact Person:
Mr Pankaj Singh
Tel: +91-9810952430
Answer the following questions and check off the bottom box (you should be checking No)
Upload a passport-sized photo of your face and a scan of your passport's data page:
- Passport scan must be a PDF file.
- Photo should be taken in front of a blank background and must be different from the photo on your passport.
After you upload a file, make sure to click “Upload Document” before selecting confirm.
You will be brought to a page to review all the details you have entered. Please make sure everything is correct, because once you click verify and continue, you will not be able to go back and edit your information.
Select yes and then select pay now. Select your preferred payment method out of the three options provided. (SBIePay is used to make a credit card payment.)
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