General Guidlines for Visa

Government of India issues visas to foreign nationals to visit India for various purposes such as Tourism, Medical treatment, Business, Conference / Workshop and Studies etc. Three types of visas are issued by Government of India. These are as follows:-

There is no facility for visas on arrival in India except for nationals of Japan, UAE and South Korea in limited circumstances and with conditions as applicable under the bilateral agreements. Foreign nationals are expected to obtain an e-visa or a regular visa before entering India by air, sea or land. For more enquiries, please visit:
https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/visa-on-arrival.html

E-visa facility is not controlled or administered or facilitated by the Embassy of India, Abu Dhabi. For e-visa related queries and issues please contact e-visa help desk at their e-mail IDs- indian-evisa@gov.in or indiatvoa@gov.in. Embassy of India, Abu Dhabi has no control over the processing of e-visa applications and accepts and processes only regular visa applications. E-Visa applications are dealt directly from Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), New Delhi. For applying e-visa, please visit:
https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/evisa/tvoa.html  

• All foreign nationals except citizens of Nepal and Bhutan (in limited circumstances) need a valid Visa to enter India by Air, Sea, or Land ports. Visa applications can be made only at our official website https://indianvisaonline.gov.in, followed by submission of printout of the application form, applicable fees and documents at BLS International (for Regular Paper Visa);

Please note that India does not recognise Dual Citizenship for its citizens (irrespective of age - major/minor). Indian nationals who have acquired foreign citizenship (by naturalisation) need to submit copy of their old and cancelled Indian Passport and Renunciation certificate of Indian citizenship while applying for any type of Indian Visa.

• Application to be filled online at www.indianvisaonline.gov.in ;  Applicants are also required to have two recent photographs of size 51 mm x 51 mm with white background of not more than six months old. (Paste one photo on the earmarked space of the application and staple another on the application form);

• Applicants must fill their personal details as exactly available in their passports. Mismatch of any of the personal details would lead to non-acceptance of the application;

• Applicant’s passport must have a minimum validity of six months and two blank pages and should not be Mutilated/ damaged/ tampered in any manner at the time of submission of the visa application. All valid and old passports also need to be submitted along with the application form for Visa.

• The processing time for certain nationalities/ categories of Visa may vary and take longer than usual;

• No bookings or travel arrangements should be confirmed until a visa decision has been made. Embassy will not be responsible for any loss of bookings made in anticipation of obtaining a Visa;

• The validity of all visas commences from the date of issue of visa and not from the date of entry into India;

• All Applicants applying for five years visa are requested to be present at the time of submission of Visa Application at Visa Application Center for capturing of Biometrics.

• All Visa applicants need to be present in person for submission of visa applications.

• Visa to any foreign national may only be issued from the country of origin or from the country of domicile of the applicant. Non-UAE nationals, who are casual visitors and not normally resident in UAE, should apply for an Indian visa in the country of their residence or country of origin. 

• The visa fee charged is non-refundable regardless of the outcome of the application or if the applicant withdraws the application after submission or if the visa cannot be processed within the timeframe desired by applicants.

• Applicant may carry the old or expired passport carrying valid Indian visa along with the new passport for travel to India, provided all the personal particulars remain same on the two passports and the visa. There is no transfer of valid Indian visa from old or expired passport to the new passport.

• Foreigners are not permitted to carry Satellite phones into India.

• M/s BLS International is the only authorised agency for Indian Visa services. Please note that the Indian Visa Application Centre (IVAC) will charge a service fee (as per approved rates) for handling each visa application.   

• For further visa-related queries, contact our IVAC (BLS International):

Address and Timings of BLS International of Abu Dhabi and Al Ain centres are as given below:

• The IVAC staffs are trained to answer your queries and provide information on Visa related issues. They are, however, not Embassy of India personnel. Please feel free to contact Embassy at the given e-mail address for additional information or if you are not satisfied or convinced by the response, provided by the staff at IVAC. 

• Email: visa.abudhabi@mea.gov.in 
  Detailed Information on Indian visas are also available on: http://boi.gov.in  and https://xn--i1b5bzbybhfo5c8b4bxh.xn--11b7cb3a6a.xn--h2brj9c/MHA1/TourVisa.html