India has announced recently that they are now offering e-business and e-medical visas for travel to India. I want to share how to get a business e-visa for India and a medical one, which are now the same directions as a tourist e-visa.
When the e-visa first came out in 2014, it was for 30 days with double-entry allowed. They increased it to 60 days in 2017 and added the e-medical and e-business visas. In 2019, they have increased it even more for e-tourist and e-business.
The one year is also for the e-Business visa. You can get a 60 day e-Medical visa as well which allows triple-entry. There are now e-conference visas valid for 30 days which allow only one entry.
It’s great for tourists who want more time and fantastic for people coming on health retreats or quick business.
The previous paper visa meant you had to send in documents plus your passport to officials and wait up to six weeks to get approved. The e-visas take up to four days. Massive improvement.
I’ve previously written two articles on this topic:
- How to get a Visa for India from USA (step by step if you stay longer than one year)
- How to get a Visa for India from UK (step by step if you stay longer than one year)
- How to get an e-tourist visa for India (how to apply for the e-visa for tourists)
How to get a business e-Visa for India & a Medical e-Visa for India
Like I’ve mentioned in other posts, the easiest and fastest way is to use the third party iVisa, as they do it all for you and make sure all paperwork is in order before it’s sent. You can also do it more directly and cheaper on the government site.
Basically, if you sent a photo which isn’t to their standards the Indian Embassy will decline you and you have to pay again and reapply. iVisa helps avoid this and gets it done easy peasy, but with a service fee added. For me, it’s totally worth the fee but I know some on a budget would rather go directly through the government.
If you want to use iVisa, there is a link to start the India paperwork.
Here are the full changes made to the e-visa system in India
- E-tourist visas can now be applied to for up to 30 days, 1 year, or 5 years. The 30 day one allows double entry while the 1 and 5 year visa allows multiple entries
- E-visas for tourists and those on business now for one year instead of 60 days.
- E-business and e-tourist visas now with multiple-entry instead of only double entry.
- Medical visas now for 60 days with triple-entry.
- E-conference visas are now for 30 days with only single entry.
- They also added more countries to their list of people who can come to India on an e-visa. There are now 161 countries eligible for entry.
- They have also added more airports. Previously you could only fly into a selected 16 airports to use the e-visa and now there are 24 airports and three ship ports: Cochin, Goa, and Mangalore.
- You used to be able to apply for the e-visa only within 4-30 days of your travel, no sooner! Now, you can apply 120 days before your arrival date.
- While it used to be mostly just Americans who could get 5-year visas (the type you mail in, not e-visas), now more countries are able to apply for this lengthy visas and even up to 10 years.
As you can see how to get a business e-visa or medical e-visa is super easy. You can do this through the government site directly or you can use the third party iVisa.
Here is my guide to applying for any type of e-visa.
India s really a great place to visit, by the End of this year I am planning to Asia and India is on the top of my check list.
Damn all these improvements are incredible! I only wish they had happened before my trip last year :)
yes, you could have stayed longer! & didn’t you guys do multiple entry anyways and go to nepal then bounce back in without problems somehow?
yeah I got second 30 day visa and was able to get back in only 5 days after leaving. We had decided that if I had any problems that we would just stay in Nepal until flying home.