India e-Visa: the only portal that works, the fee table by nationality and season, the photo that gets you rejected, and the list of airports the site itself contradicts

👤 Who needs it?

It can be requested by passport holders from the 175 countries and territories on the portal's list «Countries/Regions who are eligible to avail eVisa». We read that whole list on 23/09/2026 and our TWENTY-EIGHT nationalities are ALL there: Andorra (2), Argentina (6), Australia (9), Bolivia (20), Brazil (23), Chile (32), Colombia (33), Costa Rica (36), Cuba (39), Denmark (42), Dominican Republic (45), Ecuador (46), El Salvador (47), Germany (58), Guatemala (63), Guyana (66), Honduras (68), Italy (75), Mexico (102), Nicaragua (116), Panama (123), Paraguay (125), Peru (126), Spain (149), Suriname (151), Uruguay (167), USA (168) and Venezuela (172). None is left out. Now the exclusions, which are per person and not per country, and are the ones that leave people stranded. Verbatim from FAQ Q1: «(v) Foreigners of Pakistani origin or having Pakistani Passport are not eligible for e-Visa. Foreigners who are not Pakistani nationals, but whose parents or grandparents (either paternal or maternal) was born in, or was permanently resident in Pakistan, are also not eligible for e-Visa. They may apply for regular Visa at Indian Mission» —watch out for this one: it is enough for one grandparent to have been born in or permanently resident in Pakistan—; «(vi) Not available to Diplomatic/Official Passport Holders or Laissez-passer/ international travel document holders»; «(vii) Not available to individuals endorsed on Parent's/Spouse's Passport i.e. each individual should have a separate passport». And the most surprising one, on the instructions page: «If you have a defence/military/security/police background(serving/retired) or hold an official/diplomatic passport, please note that you are not eligible for e-Visa for India. You are advised to apply for regular visa through the Indian Visa Online portal of the Government of India. If you attempt to enter India on an e-Visa by suppressing information about your professional background, you may be denied entry into India and deported from India to the port of embarkation». Military, police, security or defence personnel, SERVING OR RETIRED, are not eligible: hiding it ends in deportation to the port of embarkation. Children need their own e-Visa and their own passport: «Q12. (...) Do I need to apply for a separate e-Visa for my minor child? Ans- Yes».

🧭 The step by step

📋 What you need at hand

• Passport with at least 6 MONTHS of validity counted from the day you apply, and with at least TWO BLANK PAGES for the immigration officer's stamp
• One passport per person: minors cannot be endorsed on the passport of their father, mother or spouse, and need their own e-Visa
• Digital photo in JPEG, between 10 KB and 1 MB, SQUARE (height = width), full face from the front, eyes open, WITHOUT GLASSES, head centred from hair to chin, plain light or white background, no shadows on the face or the background, no borders
• Scan of the passport's biometric page in PDF, between 10 KB and 300 KB
• Extra document in PDF of 10 to 300 KB depending on the case: letter from the institute on its letterhead for short courses, letter from the organisation on its letterhead for short volunteering (e-Tourist); business card or invitation letter from the Indian company (e-Business); letter from the Indian hospital on its letterhead with tentative admission date and the patient's name, nationality and passport number (e-Medical)
• EVERY attached document in ENGLISH: if it's in Spanish, Portuguese or Italian, the application is exposed to rejection
• Visa or Mastercard credit or debit card, or PayPal account (3% surcharge with card, 4% with PayPal)
• A valid email address that you actually check: that's where the confirmation, the re-upload request and the decision arrive
• Details of previous Indian visas (mandatory field; if you don't remember, you can put NA or Not Available)
• Visible identification mark («Visible Identification Mark»): moles, birthmarks or permanent scars; if you have none, «None»
• The ETA PRINTED on paper, with the status confirmed as GRANTED on the portal before setting off
• e-Arrival card completed online within the 72 hours before arrival (boi.gov.in, indianvisaonline.gov.in or the official «Indian Visa Su-Swagatam» app)
• Return or onward ticket, and enough money for the stay (no amount published)
• International yellow fever vaccination certificate IN ORIGINAL, if you arrive within 6 days of leaving an endemic country
• The old passport, if you renewed your passport after the ETA was granted
• Prior permission from the civil authority, if your itinerary touches Protected, Restricted or Cantonment areas

⚠️ The mistakes that cost you

• Paying on a website that isn't indianvisaonline.gov.in. The portal is categorical: «https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/evisa/ is only the official website to apply for the e-Visa Services». And if your passport is Argentine or Uruguayan, the official fee is US$ 0: anything you pay is the intermediary's profit.
• Buying an «urgent» or «express» service from someone. It doesn't exist: «Government of India makes no provision of charging of any emergency fees or additional fees for grant of any emergency / express e-visa».
• Paying something extra at the airport because someone asks you to. Verbatim: «You have already paid the required processing fee online. The applicants are advised to beware of unscrupulous elements/ travel agents/ intermediaries demanding extra payment».
• Uploading a RECTANGULAR photo. The oddest requirement and the one that causes the most rejections: «The height and width of the Photo must be equal». It has to be square.
• Uploading a photo with glasses, even prescription ones. Explicitly prohibited: «front view, eyes open and without spectacles».
• Uploading a photo with a shadow behind the head or with a border. Both are grounds for rejection: «No shadows on the face or on the background», «Without borders».
• Uploading the passport scan as JPG or over 300 KB. The biometric page goes as PDF, between 10 and 300 KB. The photo goes as JPEG. They are different formats and the system doesn't swap them.
• Attaching any document in Spanish. «All documents including Business cards, Invitation letters etc. must be in English language, failing which the application would be liable for rejection».
• Applying with a passport less than 6 months from expiry, or with a full passport. You need 6 months of validity from the day you apply AND TWO blank pages, because the visa is physically stamped on arrival.
• Applying with less than 4 days' notice, or paying with less than 4 days to go. «The fee must be paid at least 4 days before the expected date of travel otherwise application will not be processed»: the application simply isn't processed.
• Applying more than 120 days in advance. That's the ceiling of the window and the system won't accept it.
• Applying again because the payment hasn't cleared. You have to wait TWO HOURS: «Before re-applying, the applicants are requested to wait for 2 hours for payment status updating». If you apply again, you pay twice and the first one isn't refunded.
• Retrying the payment five times in a row. Between attempts you have to leave 25 minutes, and «In case you have already tried more than thrice, then you may have to re-submit the entire application form once again».
• Paying by PayPal without looking at the surcharge. With a card it's 3%, with PayPal 4%. On a 5-year visa of US$ 200 the difference is two dollars, but it's money you don't need to spend.
• Booking a flight to Navi Mumbai, Bhopal or Tirupati without confirming it in writing. They are the three airports that appear on the authorised checkposts tab (36) and NOT on the FAQ list on the same page (33). Until the agency unifies the two lists, it's the riskiest point of the whole procedure.
• Assuming a cruise ship can disembark at any Indian port. With an ETA, the FAQ's specific answer is five: Mumbai, Chennai, Cochin, Goa and Mangalore.
• Trying to enter overland with the e-Visa because the airport wasn't on the list. «No, You can only enter through the designated airports/seaports which are listed on the e-Visa website».
• Having a military, police, defence or security background —active or RETIRED— and applying anyway. You are not eligible, and the portal warns that if you hide it «you may be denied entry into India and deported from India to the port of embarkation».
• Believing you're eligible as the child or grandchild of someone born in Pakistan. The exclusion extends to grandparents, paternal or maternal, by birth or by permanent residence.
• Travelling without confirming that the status says GRANTED, hoping to sort it out at the airport. Visa on arrival exists only for Japanese, South Korean and Emirati nationals with a previous Indian visa.
• Applying for the 1-year or 5-year e-Tourist and believing you can stay the whole year straight. The cap is 180 days per CALENDAR YEAR, and it's counted by calendar year, not by visa year.
• Getting the 1-year or 5-year one many months before the trip. Validity runs "from the date of grant of ETA", from the moment they issue it: every month you keep it in a drawer is a month you lost.
• Moving the trip earlier after getting the 30-day ETA. "Your first arrival must be between the date of issue and expiry of ETA": if you bring it forward, you can fall outside the window and there is no published procedure to change it.
• Leaving the e-Arrival card for just before the trip. The window is the 72 hours before arrival, not earlier and not later, and it is mandatory.
• Arriving from Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia or Venezuela without the ORIGINAL yellow fever certificate. The published consequence is a 6-day quarantine.
• Planning Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Sikkim, Ladakh or the inner Andaman Islands with an e-Visa and nothing else. The e-Visa is not valid for Protected, Restricted or Cantonment areas, and since it cannot be extended or converted, the permit has to be requested separately and in advance.
• Using the e-Visa to work, do journalism or collaborate with an NGO. It is expressly excluded in FAQ Q31 and Q32. Volunteering is allowed, but for up to one month and without any kind of payment in return.
• Giving up on a half-completed application. It is saved and can be resumed with the "Complete Partially Filled Application Form" button at the bottom of the portal.

🔎 Where this comes from

• Indian Visa Online — e-Visa: official page for the procedure (Bureau of Immigration, Ministry of Home Affairs). It contains the 4-step process, the General Instructions, the list of 175 eligible countries, the list of documents by category, the photo and file specifications, the 33 FAQs and the Authorized Immigration Checkposts tab
• Indian Visa Online — Country/Territory Wise e-Tourist Visa Fee (in US $): official fee schedule in PDF, 181 rows, version dated 08-September-2026, with the note "Bank charge of 3% will be charged additional on applicable e-Visa fees"
• Indian Visa Online — main portal: apply, resume a half-completed application, verify payment, reprint, upload documents again and check the status
• Indian Visa Online — Sample e-Visa Application Form (PDF): the sample form to know what they are going to ask you before you start
• Bureau of Immigration, Government of India — e-Arrival card and immigration information for foreigners
• Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of India — the e-Visa portal links from here to the "Updated List of Yellow Fever Endemic Countries by WHO", but that PDF returns a 404 error (verified on 23/09/2026)
• Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India — the authority responsible for permits for Protected, Restricted and Cantonment areas
• Consulate General of India in San Francisco — official warning about fraudulent e-visa sites and clarification that the consulate does not process e-visas