India e-Visa 2026: Types, Fees, Eligibility and Step-by-Step Application

India has made its electronic visa the standard gateway into the country: tourism, business, medical care, studies, transit — almost everything now runs through the e-Visa. More than 170 nationalities can get their authorisation without setting foot in an embassy, directly on the official portal indianvisaonline.gov.in, within a few days and for a fee starting at $10 depending on the season. But behind this simplicity hide three very real traps: prices that change with the time of year and your nationality, an eligibility list that still excludes several African countries, and a swarm of fake websites charging double or triple the official fee. Here is the complete guide, verified in late July 2026.

The official portal currently offers eight e-Visa categories. The first four cover the vast majority of travellers:

• Fees observed on the official portal for most nationalities in July 2026, excluding bank charges of 2.5–3% added at payment. The 30-day e-Tourist fee is seasonal: it drops to $10 for applications lodged from April to June (low season), against $25 from July to March.

One crucial point: e-Visa fees are officially "country/territory specific", based on bilateral arrangements. Some nationalities pay less, a few pay nothing at all. The exact amount that applies to you is displayed on the official portal at payment time — that figure is the authoritative one, not the tables published by commercial websites.

On length of stay: with a 1-year or 5-year e-Tourist visa, each stay is capped (90 consecutive days for most nationalities, with a ceiling of 180 cumulative days per calendar year). The e-Business visa allows stays of up to 180 days. The portal also offers e-Student, e-Family, e-Transit (30 days) and e-Miscellaneous visas — rarer, same application rules.

Around 170 countries and territories appear on the official portal's eligibility list. Good news for our readers: France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada and Ecuador are eligible, as is almost all of Latin America.

For francophone Africa the picture is mixed. Eligible for the e-Visa (list verified in July 2026): Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Comoros, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Gabon, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Mauritius, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles and Togo.

Several countries, however, remain excluded at the time of writing: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Guinea-Bissau and Tunisia. Nationals of these countries must apply for a classic sticker visa at the Indian embassy or consulate covering their country of residence — expect different fees, an appointment and longer processing. The list changes regularly (India expanded it again in early 2026): check it on the official portal before concluding you are not eligible.

Even for eligible nationalities, a few conditions apply: ordinary passports only (diplomatic and official passports and travel documents are not accepted), passport valid for at least 6 months on arrival, and entry through an authorised point (see below). Persons of Pakistani nationality or origin must apply for a regular visa.

1. Prepare your files before you start: digital photo, scan of your passport's bio page, and the supporting documents for your visa type (see next section). The form is long; having everything at hand saves you from starting over.
2. Go to indianvisaonline.gov.in — type the address manually rather than clicking a sponsored search result — then click "For e-Visa by Bureau of Immigration / Apply here for e-Visa".
3. Fill in the online form: personal details, passport details, occupation, address in India (your first hotel is fine), ports of entry and exit, and a series of security questions. Write down the Temporary Application ID it generates: it lets you resume an interrupted form.
4. Upload the photo and passport page in the required formats (see documents section). A rejected file is the number one cause of delay.
5. Add type-specific documents: business card or company letter for the e-Business visa, letter from the Indian hospital for the e-Medical visa.
6. Pay online with an international bank card. Bank charges (2.5–3%) are added to the fee. Payment must be completed at least 4 days before your arrival date.
7. Track your application via "Check your visa status" with your Application ID. The ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization) arrives by email, usually within 72 hours. Apply at least 4 days before departure; to be safe, aim for 7–10 days.
8. Print the ETA and keep a copy on your phone. On arrival, present it with your passport at the dedicated e-Visa counter: the officer takes your fingerprints and photo, then stamps you in.

For all e-Visas:

• Ordinary passport valid for at least 6 months from your arrival date in India, with at least 2 blank pages for stamps.
• Recent digital photo: JPEG format, between 10 KB and 1 MB, square frame, plain white background, full face clearly visible, no glasses. This is the most frequently rejected file — a well-lit smartphone photo against a white wall works.
• Scan of the passport bio page: PDF format, between 10 KB and 300 KB, showing your photo and details legibly.
• International bank card for payment.
• Return or onward ticket and sufficient funds for the stay (checked on entry, rarely requested at application).

By type: business card or employer letter for the e-Business visa; letter from the Indian hospital stating the treatment for the e-Medical visa.

Important for African travellers: if you arrive from a country where yellow fever is present (most of West and Central Africa), the yellow fever vaccination certificate is required on arrival in India. Without it you risk up to 6 days of quarantine, valid e-Visa or not.

The e-Visa does not open every Indian border: entry must be through one of the designated points — the official portal's list counts around thirty airports and nearly 40 seaports as of July 2026.

Main airports: Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Cochin, Goa (Dabolim and Mopa), Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Amritsar, Calicut, Trivandrum, Pune, Varanasi… Every major international hub is on the list: if you arrive on a standard long-haul flight (via Dubai, Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Doha or Istanbul), you will almost certainly land at an authorised airport.

Seaports: Mumbai, Cochin, Goa, Chennai, Mangalore and others — useful for cruise passengers.

Exit, on the other hand, is unrestricted: you can leave India through any authorised immigration post, including land borders. Land entry with an e-Visa was long excluded; the portal now lists a handful of land checkpoints (mainly on the Nepal side, such as Raxaul and Jogbani). If you plan to enter overland, check the up-to-date list on the official site before travelling.

This is the number one Indian visa scam. indianvisaonline.gov.in is the ONLY official website for the e-Visa — no other site belongs to the Government of India. Indian embassies (in Paris, Washington, Berne, Kuwait…) regularly publish warnings against dozens of sites imitating the government design: indianimmigration.org, evisaentry.com, india-immi.org and many others.

The playbook is well-oiled: these sites buy Google ads on "india e visa", display forms nearly identical to the official one, then charge "service fees" of $69 or more on top of the government fee — when they don't simply harvest your passport and card details without delivering anything. Warning signs: a .org or .com extension instead of .gov.in, a price above the official fees quoted above, promises of "guaranteed processing" or "express approval". Some intermediaries are legal but pointless: the official form takes 30–45 minutes on your own.

If you have already paid on a fake site: dispute the charge with your bank, watch your statements, and reapply — only on the official portal.

• How long does it really take?* The ETA usually arrives within 72 hours. The regulatory minimum is to apply 4 days before arrival; allow 7–10 days of margin to absorb a possible photo rejection or request for more information.

• Does the price really change with the season?* Yes, for the 30-day e-Tourist only: $10 for applications from April to June, $25 from July to March (most nationalities). The 1-year, 5-year and business e-Visas do not vary by season, but may vary by nationality.

• Can I extend my e-Visa in India?* No. The tourist e-Visa is neither extendable nor convertible: you must leave the country before it expires. Only certain medical cases receive exceptional extensions.

• Do my children need their own e-Visa?* Yes. Every traveller, infants included, must have their own passport and their own e-Visa — no endorsement on a parent's passport.

• What happens if my application is refused?* Fees are not refunded. You can reapply after fixing the problem (photo, form inconsistency) or turn to the embassy for a classic visa.

• How many times can I use the 30-day e-Visa?* It allows two entries during its 30-day validity from first arrival. If you plan several trips in the year, the 1-year e-Tourist at $40 quickly becomes better value.