India
India Entry Requirements for US Travelers
US citizens traveling to India as tourists need three things. First, a passport that is valid for at least six months after the trip and has two blank pages. Second, an electronic tourist visa (e-Visa). Third, a digital arrival card. You apply for the e-Visa online. Once it is approved, you receive an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA), an approval email that you print and show at immigration. e-Visa fees range from US$10 to US$80, depending on visa length and travel month. The arrival card is free.
Passport rules come first, followed by choosing and applying for the e-Visa and filing the arrival card. Later sections cover questions from border officers, customs limits, and differences for other common passports. Rules and fees change, so check the official pages before you pay anything.
Passport Validity and Blank Pages
The Consulate General of India in San Francisco states that a passport must be valid for at least six months and have two blank pages for any visa. The VFS Global visa service applies the same six-month rule to e-Visa entries, so the requirement covers both the online and the traditional visa.
Your passport must also remain valid for the whole stay. Airlines enforce their own checks at the ticket counter, and airline boarding rules can refuse a passport that is damaged, close to expiry, or short of blank pages. Immigration officers put the visa stamp on those blank pages. If your passport expires within six months of your arrival date, renew it before you buy airline tickets or submit the e-Visa application. Plan around the six-month figure even if your airline’s check is looser.
Choosing an e-Visa Type
The official e-Visa portal lists the United States among the countries whose citizens can apply for an e-Visa. US citizens choose from three e-Tourist visa types. The table below gives the validity and stay rules for each type, as the portal states them.
| e-Tourist visa | Validity | Entries | Stay rules |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-day | 30 days | Multiple entry, non-extendable and non-convertible | Applies to individual tourists from 15 November 2021 |
| 1-year | 365 days from the date the ETA is granted | Multiple | Maximum 180 days in one calendar year |
| 5-year | Five years from the date the ETA is granted | Multiple | Maximum 180 days in one calendar year |
The 30-day visa costs the least, but it covers one stay of up to 30 days and cannot be extended. The 1-year and 5-year visas both cap your time in India at 180 days per calendar year, so the longer visa adds convenience across several trips rather than extra days in a single year. A traveler who plans one trip of a few weeks should usually take the 30-day visa. A traveler who expects to return to India more than once in a year should compare the 1-year fee with the cost of separate 30-day visas.
Fees for US citizens, from the Embassy of India in Washington, DC fee announcement dated in early 2026:
- 30-day e-Tourist: US$25 for applications covering travel from July to March, and US$10 for travel from April to June
- 1-year e-Tourist: US$40, down from US$80
- 5-year e-Tourist: US$80
Your travel month sets the price of the 30-day visa, so an April or May trip is the cheapest single-trip option. The Consulate General of India in San Francisco states that the fee is non-refundable whether or not the ETA is granted.
The Consulate General in San Francisco states that entry by land is not permitted on e-Tourist visas or regular paper tourist visas. A traveler arriving by road from a neighboring country cannot use the e-Visa for that crossing.
Applying for the e-Visa
You complete the whole application online. The portal describes these steps:
- Complete the online application.
- Upload a photo and a scan of the passport bio page, the page with your photo and personal details.
- Pay by credit card, debit card, or a payment wallet.
- Receive the ETA by email.
- Print the ETA and show it at the immigration check post, where an officer stamps the e-Visa into your passport.
Before you travel, confirm that the ETA status shows "GRANTED" on the official site. The portal also states that the government charges no emergency or express fee for any e-Visa, which means a site that charges extra for a faster approval is not the official channel. Apply through the official portal, and do not pay an intermediary to submit the form for you.
Filing the e-Arrival Card
India replaced the paper arrival card with the digital e-Arrival card beginning 1 October 2025. The Embassy of India in the Netherlands lists the official filing sites as indianvisaonline.gov.in/earrival/ and boi.gov.in/boi/, along with the Su-Swagatam mobile app. The paper card was accepted during a six-month transition that ended on 1 April 2026, so the digital card is the only option for a trip now.
The card is free to file. Private websites charge $5 to $20 to submit the same free form. Use the official sites above and skip any service that asks for payment.
The official e-Visa page says you can submit the card online within 72 hours before arrival. You enter your passport number, passport expiry date, and issuing country, along with your contact details, purpose of visit, and address in India, which is the hotel and city or the host’s address. No document upload is needed. Each arrival requires its own card, because the card covers a single entry. The arrival card records your trip details and does not replace the e-Visa.
What Border Officers Ask
At the immigration counter, the officer checks your passport, your visa, and your boarding pass. The officer may ask why you are visiting, how long you plan to stay, and where you will stay. Keep your hotel name and address ready, because the arrival card asks for the same information. First-time foreign visitors also register biometric details, a photo and fingerprints, at the counter. Foreign nationals use a separate queue from Overseas Citizens of India cardholders. Diplomats and Indian nationals are also kept out of that queue, as described in the airport immigration process guide.
Duty-Free Allowances and Declarations
The Central Government notified the Baggage Rules, 2026, along with new customs declaration regulations and a Master Circular. The Press Information Bureau release, posted on 2 February 2026, sets these free allowances:
- Tourist of foreign origin: ?25,000
- Foreigner with a valid visa other than a tourist visa: ?75,000
- Resident or tourist of Indian origin: ?75,000
- Crew members: ?2,500
As a US tourist, your allowance is ?25,000. Older figures of ?15,000 for foreign tourists belong to the earlier regime. Passengers who arrive over a land border get no general duty-free allowance.
Goods above the allowance must be declared, and duty applies to the excess value. Travelers whose goods require duty or fall under restrictions take the red channel, while those whose goods fall within the allowance take the green channel. The customs rules for travelers explain the two channels in more detail, and the arrival and declaration guide covers how the form works at the airport.
For alcohol and tobacco, the limit for passengers 18 and older is 2 litres of alcohol, according to the Indian customs declaration reference. It lists tobacco as 100 cigarettes, or 25 cigars, or 125 g of tobacco, and says you may choose only one of those options. Confirm these amounts on the official customs site before you travel.
You can file the customs declaration electronically through the Atithi app or the ICEGATE portal, or on paper with Form CBD-I. The customs rules summary explains that the regulations allow electronic and advance declarations.
Currency, Gold, and Prohibited Goods
Gold bars and coins are always dutiable, and gold or silver above the duty-free limit must be declared. Gold counts toward your duty-free limit along with the rest of your goods, so if you carry gold jewelry, you should declare it before arrival.
For money, foreign currency notes above US$5,000 must be declared on arrival on a Currency Declaration Form. Total foreign exchange above US$10,000, which includes notes, traveler’s cheques, and bank drafts, must also be declared. India sets no cap on the amount you may bring in. Both the NRI customs guide and the e-Visa traveler customs summary cover these thresholds. If you carry a large amount of cash, confirm the current thresholds on the official customs site before you leave.
Some items are prohibited outright. The reference list includes narcotics and psychotropic substances, wildlife products, counterfeit currency, maps that show incorrect external boundaries of India, and satellite phones without permission. It also lists beef and certain meat and dairy products. Drones may need a declaration or a permit. If you carry a drone or a satellite phone, confirm the rules before you leave home.
How Other Passports Compare
The rules above cover US passports. Citizens of other countries face different entry requirements. Visa-free entry applies only to citizens of Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives, according to the visa-exempt country list. Citizens of other countries need an e-Visa, a visa on arrival, or a regular visa. The same guide names Japan, South Korea, and UAE nationals as eligible for visa on arrival, which is one of the differences US travelers do not face.
Nepali citizens entering by land or air do not need a passport or visa under the Immigration and Foreigners (Exemption) Order 2025. The exemption does not apply to entries from China, Macau, Hong Kong, or Pakistan. Overseas Citizens of India cardholders are exempt from the visa requirement regardless of their other nationality. Pakistani citizens cannot apply for an India e-Visa.
Diplomatic passports follow a different system. The Ministry of External Affairs publishes a visa-exemption table that covers diplomatic passports only, and that table does not apply to tourist passports, including US passports. A US tourist still needs the e-Visa or a regular visa.
Before You Travel
- Renew early: Make sure your passport has at least six months left and two blank pages before you apply, because the Consulate General of India states both requirements for any visa.
- Match the visa to your trip pattern: Choose the 30-day visa for one short trip. If you plan several visits, compare the 1-year and 5-year fees, keeping in mind the 180-day annual cap.
- File the e-Arrival card within 72 hours: Submit the free card on an official site during the 72 hours before arrival, and skip paid third-party services.
- Declare money and gold above the limits: Declare foreign currency notes above US$5,000 and total foreign exchange above US$10,000, and declare gold above your duty-free allowance.
- Use only official channels: Apply for the e-Visa and file the arrival card only on official Indian government sites. Before you fly, confirm the ETA shows "GRANTED".
