e-Tourist Visa

e- Tourist Visa (e-TV) scheme, which was launched by Government of India on November 27, 2014 initially for 43 countries, has been extended to more countries from time to time. In the latest expansion, Government of India has decided to extend the e-TV scheme to 36 more countries including The Netherlands from 15th August 2015. With this addition, the total count of countries under the scheme will go up to 113. The number of designated airports in India where e-TV holders can arrive has also been increased from the earlier 9 to 16 from 15th August 2015. These 16 airports are: Bangalore, Chennai, Kochi, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Gaya, Jaipur, Lucknow, Trichy and Varanasi. However, exit is possible from any of the authorized Immigration Check Posts (ICPs) in India. The e-Tourist Visa scheme entails capture of biometric data of the visitor on arrival at the airport.

A dedicated website (https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/tvoa.html) has been launched for e-Tourist Visas. The citizens of eligible countries can apply online for tourist visas (single entry; twice a year; each visit not exceeding 30 days; visa duration non-extendable except in the event of medical emergency) which shall be responded to within 72 hours through email. The purpose of the visit may range from tourism, casual business visit, short term medical treatment, and to meet friends and relatives. E-TV fee is US$ 60/- per applicant, excluding interchange charge for credit/debit cards. The fee must be paid online at least 4 days before the expected date of travel.

e-Tourist visa of a foreigner who falls ill after his/her entry into India rendering him/her unfit to travel and who requires specialized medical treatment may be converted into Medical visa if he/she is eligible for the grant of Medical Visa and a medical certificate is obtained from a government/ICMR recognized hospital. In such cases, e-Tourist Visa of the attendant accompanying the foreigner (whose e-Tourist Visa is converted into Medical Visa) may also be converted into Medical Attendant [MED X] visa co-terminus with the Medical Visa of the foreigner. 

e-Tourist Visa may be converted to 'X' (Entry) Visa if a foreigner who has come to India on an e-Tourist Visa marries an Indian national during the validity of his/her e-Tourist Visa. 

Eligibility for e-TV (full list of eligible countries available at https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/tvoa.html)

 International travellers whose sole objective of visiting India is recreation, sightseeing, casual visit to meet friends or relatives, short duration medical treatment or casual business visit.

 Passport should have at least six months validity from the date of arrival in India. The passport should have at least two blank pages for stamping by the Immigration Officer.

 International travellers should have return ticket or onward journey ticket, with sufficient money to spend during his/her stay in India.

The following categories are not eligible for e-TV

 Persons travelling on passport other than ordinary passport, such as Diplomatic, Official, Special and Service passports.
 Persons having a residence or occupation in India. 
  Individuals endorsed on Parent’s/Spouse’s Passport i.e. each individual should have a separate passport.
  International Travel Document Holders.
 Persons having Pakistani passport or of Pakistani origin. 

• Persona-non-grata to the Government of India.
• Personal considered undesirable.

E-TV APPLICATION PROCESS

 Apply online at https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/tvoa.html - Upload Photo and Passport Page
 Pay visa fee online - Using Credit / Debit card
 Receive e-TV Online - e-TV will be sent to your e-mail
  Fly To India - Print e-TV and carry at the time of travel

The documents required for e-TV are:

 Scanned First Page of Passport - Format – PDF; Size: Minimum 10 KB, Maximum 300 KB. 
 The digital photograph to be uploaded along with the Visa application should meet the following requirements: Format – JPEG; Size - Minimum 10 KB Maximum 1 MB; The height and width of the Photo must be equal; Photo should present Full face, front view, eyes open; Center head within frame and present full head from top of hair to bottom of chin; Background should be plain light colored or white background; No shadows on the face or on the background; Without borders.

Validity of e-TV

Entry into India within 30 days from date of approval of Electronic Travel Authorization.

Queries related to e-TV

Queries may be made on 24X7 helpline number (+91-11-24300666) and email address ([email protected]). Embassy of India, The Hague, would not be in a position to address queries related to e-TV.

Applications for regular visas of different categories will continue to be processed through the authorized service provider of the Embassy of India, BLS International (www.blsindia-nl.com), at its three centers at The Hague, Amsterdam and Rotterdam. However, BLS International is not involved in the e-TV scheme, which is outside its purview.

 Instructions for e-Tourist Visa

 Applicants of the eligible countries may apply online minimum 4 days in advance of the date of arrival with a window of 30 days. Example : If you are applying on 1st Sept then applicant can select arrival date from 5th Sept to 4th Oct.

 Recent front facing photograph with white background and photo page of Passport containing personal details like name, date of birth, nationality , expiry date etc. to be uploaded by the applicant. The application is liable to be rejected if the uploaded document and photograph are not clear / as per specification.

 e-Tourist Visa (e-TV) fee is US$ 60/- per passenger excluding interchange charge for credit/debit cards. The fee must be paid at least 4 days before the expected date of travel filled by you otherwise application will not be processed.

 e-TV fee once submitted is non-refundable as the fee is for processing of the application and is not dependent on either Grant or Rejection of VISA.

 Please be careful while making payment of the e-TV fee. If the number of unsuccessful attempts is more than three (03), then the application id would be blocked and the applicant would be required to apply afresh by filling the application form again and regenerating a new application id.

 Before re-applying, the applicants are requested to wait for 4 hours for payment status updating, after final submission of the application form and payment of the fee. The payment status updating may take up to 4 hours.

 Applicant should carry a copy of e-TV along with him/her at the time of travel.

 Biometric details of the applicant will be mandatorily captured at Immigration on arrival in India.

 The validity of visa will be 30 days from the date of arrival in India.

 e-TV is valid for entry through 16 designated Airports: Bangalore, Chennai, Kochin, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Gaya, Jaipur, Lucknow, Trichy and Varanasi. However, exit is possible from any of the authorized Immigration Check Posts (ICPs) in India.

 This facility is in addition to the existing Visa services.

 e-Tourist Visa (e-TV) is allowed for a maximum of two visits in a calendar year.

 e-Tourist Visa (e-TV) once issued on arrival is Only single entry , non-extendable, non-convertible & not valid for visiting Protected/Restricted and Cantonment Areas.

 Applicants can track the status of their application online by clicking visa status.

 Nationals of Yellow Fever affected countries must carry YELLOW FEVER VACCINATION CARD at the time of arrival in India, otherwise they may be quarantined for 6 days upon arrival in India. Please visit our Ministry of Health & Family Welfare latest guidelines regarding yellow fever countries here.

 Important Technical Information for Online Visa application: This site is best viewed in Mozilla Firefox,Google Chrome,Internet Explorer (Windows) version 9.0 and above. The applicant must also have Adobe Acrobat Reader version 7.0 or higher installed on your PC in order to download and print the completed application form.

 For any assistance call 24x7 Visa support center at +91-11-24300666 or send email to [email protected].

e-TV – FAQS - PAYMENT RELATED

SBIePay Payment Gateway

1. What is SBIePay?.
SBIePay is the Payment Aggregator service of State Bank of India which provides multiple payment options on a single payment page for the convenience of applicants. SBIePay has enabled Debit and Credit issued by MasterCard and VISA.

2. What are all the payment modes available on SBIePay payment page?
SBIePay facilitates online payments all Credit and Debit Cards issued by MasterCard and VISA.

3. Are transactions on SBIePay secure?
SBIePay is certified with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) ver 2.0 certified, which reinforces our promise of security. The payment system fully supports 3DSecure - Verified by Visa and MasterCard Secure Code, wherever it is applicable. Further SBIePay is secured using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption which ensures that payment information never sent over the Internet unencrypted and cannot be viewed by unauthorised individuals.

4. Can International payments be processed?
SBIePay has enabled international card issued by MasterCard and VISA both with and without 3D Secure authentication.

5. How a customer/applicant can understand that payment has been made successfully?
The applicant after filling details on https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/ and clicks “Pay Now”. The applicant is redirected to SBIePay payment page and is presented with payment options like MasterCard and VISA. Applicant enters his card details and clicks “Proceed”. Then the applicant may see one of the two options: i. 3 D Secure page of the Card issuing page for inputing 3D Secure password/OTP ii. Transaction is processed without 3D Secure page. After successful completion of transaction, the applicant is redirected on to the https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/ with a successful receipt of payment.

6. How do I know that my Bank participates in 3D Secure transaction?
If an applicant is presented with a 3D Secure page prompting to enter a password/OTP, this means the Card issuing Bank participates in 3D Secure transaction. If the applicant does not have a transaction password/One time password, he/she should contact the card issuing Bank for support.

7. What if a successful page on https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/ is not shown after completing the transaction?
The applicant shall be presented with a payment successful page along with reference number. If the applicant does not receive any success message even after card account has been charged, a refund shall be initiated after due reconciliation to the applicants card account.

8. How are Refunds processed?
If a transaction has failed but the applicants card account is debited more than once, the amount shall be refunded to the applicants card account after reconciliation process within seven (7) days of transaction.

9. What are all the charges for integration?
SBIePay would charge an amount of USD 2 over and above the visa application fee of USD 60. These charges are charged to the applicant at the time of payment and a total of USD 62 is deducted from the card account of the applicant.

10. What is the support available for the applicants?
SBIePay provides technical support for all payment related transactions at 1800221401 (Timings: 10.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. on week-days and from 10.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. on Saturday)

11. Can an applicant perform more than one transaction for same application number registered at https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/ ?
An applicant can perform maximum of three transactions for a single application ID.

12. What happens if all three transaction attempts of the applicant fail?
If the applicant cannot succeed in three attempts, a new application is required to be filled and transaction has to be carried out with new application ID.

13. Can https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/ charge more than one time for an application ID?
An applicant shall be charged for only once against an application ID. Any double/triple debit shall be refunded after due reconciliation within seven (7) days of transactions.