Indian authorities announced on Wednesday that the electronic visa will now be valid for one year. For both professional and tourist visas alike.

India has decided to bring greater flexibility to its electronic visa. The validity of the latter will extend from 120 days to one year and will be renewable three times per year. This means that upon obtaining this visa, those concerned will have one year to enter India and make the most of their time there, which varies depending on the nature of the visa. This technology has experienced meteoric growth in India, according to the website Tourmag, "more than 2 million (2,061,511) foreign tourists arrived in India between January and November 2018 on presentation of an e-Visa compared to 1.4 million (1,456,615) for the same period in 2017." This represents an increase of 41.5%.

Valid for 90 days upon entry

Tourists holding this electronic visa will thus have one year to enter India and benefit from the 90 days authorized, "with no obligation to register with the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO)", notes the website. It adds that the Indian e-Visa is currently available for 166 different nationalities and allows entry into India at 28 airports* and 5 seaports.

Eligible airports: Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bagdogra, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Calicut, Chennai, Chandigarh, Cochin, Coimbatore, Delhi, Gaya, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Madurai, Mangalore, Mumbai, Nagpur, Portblair, Pune, Tiruchirapalli, Trivandrum, Varanasi and Vishakhapatnam. (Tourmag)

Eligible seaports: Chennai, Cochin, Goa, Mangalore and Mumbai. (Tourmag)

Thibault Bourru