Get your India e-Visa before you book anything non-refundable. The application looks simple, but the rejection rate for first-timers sits higher than it should because people rush the photo upload and ignore the passport scan requirements. You need a passport with at least 6 months validity from your arrival date, a JPEG photo under 1MB, and a PDF of your passport bio page under 300KB. That’s the whole game. Get those three things right and you’re 90% there.
The official portal is indianvisaonline.gov.in. That’s the only site you should use. Third-party sites charge $50-$100 extra for the same form and some of them look more legitimate than the government page. Don’t fall for it.
What You Need Before You Start
The application takes about 30-45 minutes if you have everything ready. If you don’t, you’ll hit a wall halfway through and lose your progress. Here’s the exact checklist:
- Passport bio page scan — PDF format, under 300KB, clear enough to read every line of text. Not a photo of your passport. A proper scan. Use Adobe Scan (free, iOS and Android) or CamScanner if you must. Blurry passport scans are the #1 reason applications get held for review.
- Passport-style photo — JPEG, under 1MB, square format, white background, both ears visible, no shadows. The Indian government is strict about the white background. Not off-white. Not cream. White.
- Credit or debit card — Visa, Mastercard, or American Express. The payment gateway is finicky. If your card has 3D Secure enabled (most do now), have your bank app ready for the verification prompt.
- Travel details — your intended arrival city, approximate dates, and the address of where you’ll stay. If you haven’t booked a hotel yet, put the name of a major hotel in your arrival city. The form requires an address, not a booking confirmation.
- Emergency contact — name, phone number, and address of someone in your home country. Not the person you’re visiting in India. Someone back home.
Photo Specs That Actually Matter
Here’s what the automated system checks: file size under 1MB, format JPEG, dimensions between 350×350 and 1000×1000 pixels. If your photo is 250KB and 500×500, you’re fine. If you submit a 1.2MB photo, the system rejects it before a human ever looks at it. Resize it with Preview on Mac or Paint on Windows. Don’t overthink the composition — just make sure your face fills about 70% of the frame and the background is genuinely white.
Step-by-Step Application Walkthrough
Go to indianvisaonline.gov.in and click the orange “Apply here for e-Visa” button. You’ll land on a page asking for your nationality, passport type, and visa type. Choose e-Tourist Visa unless you’re going for business, medical, or conference reasons. The tourist e-Visa comes in three durations: 30 days, 1 year, and 5 years. Prices differ significantly, so here’s the breakdown.
| Visa Type | Duration | Entries | Approximate Fee (USD) | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30-day e-Tourist Visa | 30 days | Double entry | $25 (seasonal) | Short trips, single visit |
| 1-year e-Tourist Visa | 365 days | Multiple entry | $40 | Two or three trips in a year |
| 5-year e-Tourist Visa | 5 years | Multiple entry | $80 | Frequent travelers, long-term plans |
For most people, the 30-day visa is the wrong choice. If there’s any chance you’ll return to India within a year — maybe you’ll add a stopover or extend a regional trip — the 1-year visa costs $15 more and removes the reapplication headache. The 5-year visa is a no-brainer for anyone who visits India more than once every two years.
Filling the Form Without Mistakes
The form asks for your full name exactly as it appears on your passport. Not your nickname. Not your middle name in a different order. The name field must match your passport character for character. If your passport says “Smith, John Michael” then your given name is John Michael and your surname is Smith. Getting this wrong creates a mismatch at immigration and they will send you to the secondary inspection line.
For the “place of birth” field, use the city as printed on your passport, not the city where you currently live. For the “visible identification marks” question, put something real — a mole, a scar, anything. Leaving it blank or writing “none” is allowed but slows down the review. A simple “mole on left cheek” moves things faster.
When you reach the address section, put your home address exactly as it appears on a utility bill or bank statement. The system doesn’t verify it against any database, but consistency matters if they ask for additional documentation later.
Payment Failures and How to Avoid Them
The payment step is where applications die. The gateway is called State Bank of India ePay and it times out faster than you’d expect. If your payment doesn’t go through within 60 seconds, you’ll get a “transaction failed” message and your application status will show “payment pending.” That’s recoverable — you can re-enter the payment page from your application dashboard — but it’s stressful.
Use a card with 3D Secure already set up. If you’re American, the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Capital One Venture cards both handle international transactions smoothly. If your card issuer flags the transaction as fraud, you’ll get a text message asking to confirm. Respond within 10 minutes or the payment window closes. If you have a card that’s known for declining international charges without warning — looking at you, Bank of America debit cards — use a different card.
After payment succeeds, you’ll see a confirmation page with an application ID starting with “T” or “V”. Screenshot that page. Email yourself the application ID. Write it down. You’ll need it to check your status and to retrieve your e-Visa when it’s approved.
Common Rejection Triggers People Ignore
Here’s the thing: most rejections aren’t about your criminal record or your travel history. They’re about sloppy file uploads and name mismatches. The Indian e-Visa system uses automated checks before a human reviews anything. If your photo has a shadow on one side of your face, the system flags it. If your passport scan cuts off the bottom line of the MRZ (the two rows of letters and numbers at the bottom of the bio page), the system can’t read it and flags your application. These aren’t judgment calls — they’re binary pass/fail checks.
The second-biggest rejection trigger is applying for the wrong visa category. If you’re attending a conference and you apply for a tourist e-Visa, you will be rejected at the border even if the e-Visa was approved online. The e-Visa approval doesn’t guarantee entry — the immigration officer at the airport makes the final call. If your stated purpose doesn’t match your visa type, they’ll send you home on the next flight.
Third trigger: applying too early or too late. The e-Visa processing time is typically 72 hours, but it can take up to 5 business days during peak season (October through March). Apply at least 2 weeks before your flight, but not more than 120 days before your arrival date. Applications submitted more than 120 days out are automatically rejected by the system.
What Happens After Approval
When your e-Visa is approved, you’ll receive an email with a link to download a PDF. Print two copies. Yes, even in 2026, India wants a physical copy. The immigration officer will scan the barcode on the printed page. Showing a PDF on your phone slows down the line and annoys the officer. Don’t be that person.
At the airport, go to the e-Visa line, not the regular visa-on-arrival line. The e-Visa line is usually shorter. Have your printed e-Visa, your passport, and your departure flight booking ready. The officer will stamp your passport and you’re in.
If you’re denied entry despite having an approved e-Visa — it happens, usually because of a name mismatch or a visa category issue — you don’t get a refund on the visa fee. You also don’t get to argue with the officer. Book a flight home and sort it out with the Indian embassy later. This is rare, but it’s the risk you accept when you travel on an e-Visa instead of a traditional visa.
