Indian Visa Requirements

The requirements for Indian Visa fall into few different categories.

In the first part of the form, you are asked basic details including passport number, issue date and expiry date. You should also know the date of your departure and arrival in India, the Indian Visa Application Form expects that you provide this information.

Indian Visa Requirements

  1. Information required on the application form regarding passport.
  2. Family details like name of spouse, parents and their country of birth.
  3. Purpose of visit, you have to select an appropriate India Visa Types.
  4. You must be of good character and have no criminal proceedings pending.
  5. You need a valid passport, that is valid for 6 months, for detailed guidelines on what your passp ort photo should look like refer to India Visa Passport Requirements.
  6. You need a valid email address to receive the Visa as this is an eVisa India (Indian Visa Online).
  7. You need a reference name in India, details on who can be your reference in India check out at India Visa Reference Name.
    • You need to know reference name
    • Reference phone number
    • Reference address
  8. You are also required to provide a photograph of your face. Instructions on what type of photograph is acceptable for successful outcome and what is not acceptable with examples is provided in more detail at Indian Visa Photo Requirements.
  9. A reference name in your home country, that is the country of your passport is also required. As to who qualifies for being a reference in your home country, please read through India Visa Home Country Reference.
  10. You may be asked to provide a proof of funds.
  11. You are not required to have proof of flight ticket or hotel booking.
  12. There are visa specific questions such as:
    • India Business Visa application asks for website name of your business and website name of the Indian company that is being visited. Further requirements are described at India Businss Online Visa and India Visa for Business Travellers.
    • Indian Business Visa ask required an email signature or business card
    • India Medical Visa requires that you provide a letter from the hospital with dates, name of procedure/treatment and address of the hospital. You can also bring 2 Medical Attendants with you who can apply for a India Medical Attendant Visa.
    • Tourist Visa is valid for a number of purposes as mentioned at India Tourist Visa, if the purpose is short term Yoga course then you will be asked to provide the name of the institute, if the purpose is to meet relatives and friends, then you will be asked to provide the name of your relative/friend.

Indian visa requirement depends on the type of visa you are filing. Basic details required are same, passport details, face photo and passport scan copy is required for all cases. The topic India Visa Documents Required covers visa type specific documents.

Note that for India Visa Requirement you are not supposed to courier the documents, post them or send them to any Indian Embassy office or Government of India office. Only digital scan copies are required in PDF, JPG, PNG format, if you are unable to upload because of size limitation then you can email the attachments to our Help Desk using the Contact Us form. To re-iterate, there is no need for physical documents for an Indian Visa online. You can provide these documents in 2 manners, either by uploading on this website Indian Visa Online or by emailing to our help desk. Emailing to our Help Desk opens up the possibility to send us document in any file format and size including but not limited to MP4, AVI, PDF, JPG, PNG, GIF, SVG or TIFF. The size limitation for your face photograph and passport scan photograph is also lifted for email. Note that you can take these photos from your mobile phone on the condition that they are legible and clear, professional scanner is NOT required.

Passport fields are most important for India Visa Requirements being met

If you want your application to be successful, then the most important fields you need to pay heed to are those that relate to your passport. If they are not exactly matched correct as per passport, then the Immigration Officers appointed by the Government of India have the discretion to reject your application. These important fields that require exact match in alphabet by alphabet are:

  • Given name
  • Middle name
  • Family name
  • Data of birth
  • Gender
  • Place of birth
  • Passport place of issue
  • Passport number
  • Passport issue date
  • Passport expiry date

Indian Visa Requirement are most stringent for the passport and face photograph for which a detailed guide is provided. Your passport image should not be very dark or very light, the scan copy of your passport and the application provided details must exactly match. Note that 2 blank pages is NOT a requirement per se of eVisa India (Indian Visa Online) because Government of India never asks for your physical passport. eVisa India or (electronic Indian Visa Online) is issued to you regardless of the number of pages in your passport, the onus is on you to ensure that there are 2 blank pages in your passport. The Immigration Officers at the airport need to stamp for entry/exit, therefore there is an airport requirement that you have 2 blank pages on your passport.


Ensure that you have checked the eligibility for your India eVisa.

United States citizens, United Kingdom citizens, Spanish citizens and French citizens can apply online for India eVisa.

Please apply for a India Visa 4-7 days in advance of your flight.