Indian Visa on Arrival - 6 Things You Need to Know

In normal cases, a visitor need to get an India visa in advance before entering, but Japan and South Korea citizens can get a visa for India on arrival. Besides, the e-Visa of India is also regarded as a form of Visa on Arrival by many. Below are the top 6 things you need to know in terms of India’s VOA.

1. Japan and South Korea Citizens can get Visa on Arrival for India without any prior application

Citizens of Japan and South Korea can get an India visa on arrival, which allows a stay of up to 60 days provided that they visit India for business, tourism, conference, and medical purposes. The cost is Rs. 2,000. Note that the visa on arrival cannot be extended or converted.

Visitors should meet the following requirements in order to get the India tourist visa on arrival:

1) Hold a passport valid for more than 6 months;
2) Enter through one of the 6 designated airports in Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata or Mumbai.

How to apply for the India visa on arrival?

1) Fill in the application form and show it to the visa officer upon arrival along with your passport.
2) Pay the fee.
3) Get back your passport with the visa on arrival for India.

2. E-Visa is similar to Visa on Arrival for India

The e-Visa was formerly known as the India Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVoA) scheme enabled by electronic travel authorization (ETA). It was renamed as the e-Visa in 2015 to avoid misunderstandings. It is actually similar to a visa on arrival for India, but visitors need to apply online for ETA in advance. Only if they are granted the ETA, they are able to get the e-Visa upon arrival. Different from the regular VOA for Japan and South Korea citizens, this scheme is available to over 160 countries. Therefore, we mainly talk about the e-Visa in the following content.

3. E-Visa is the easiest way to get an India visa

Visitors can easily log into the website of Indian Immigration and make the application online. This should be done at least four days before your travel date. After making the payment, you will receive an email in a few days with the ETA. Print a copy of it and show it to the officer upon arrival and you will have an e-Visa stamped on your passport.

4. You must fly into one of the designated airports or seaport

To get the e-Visa on arrival for India, you must land in one of the following ports:

28 airports:

Delhi	Mumbai	Chennai	Kolkata	Thiruvananthapuram
Bengaluru	Hyderabad	Cochin	Goa	Ahmedabad
Amritsar	Gaya	Jaipur	Lucknow	Trichy
Varanasi	Calicut	Mangalore	Pune	Nagpur
Coimbatore	Bagdogra	Guwahati	Chandigarh	Visakhapatnam
Madurai	Bhubaneswar	Port Blair

5 seaports:

Mumbai

Cochin

Mormugao

Chennai

New Mangalore

5. An Indian e-Visa is valid for one year

As of February 2019, an Indian e-Visa lasts for one year with multiple entries. The validity counts from the date that you get the ETA online rather than the date of your arrival. You can continuously stay in the country for less than 90 days on an e-tourist visa each time after your entry unless you are a national of UK, UK, Japan, or Canada, who can stay continuously for 180 days.

6. You can get Indian e-Visa as often as you want

You can apply for it often. The regulations on the limit of times you can apply for an Indian e-Visa has been removed.