2013 In October 2013, India decided to initiate the process of extending visa-on-arrival access to 40 more nations. In January 2014, plans were confirmed by
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Planning of India. The sixteen different types of visa would also be reduced to three: work, business and tourism. The proposal initially met resistance from intelligence agencies and the possible problem of queues emerged.
2014 In February 2014 it was announced that Indian intelligence agencies had given their approval to visa-on-arrival for up to 180 countries, largely due to the new possibilities provided by the Immigration, Visa and Foreigners' Registration and Tracking (IVFRT) system. The system would not be a typical visa on arrival in order to avoid clutter at the airports, but a system based on a prior online application modelled after Australian
Electronic Travel Authority system. On 5 February 2014 it was decided to introduce visa-on-arrival to tourists from 180 countries. Technical implementation, such as setting up the website for applications, was expected to take about 6 months and the authorities hoped to have it in place for the tourist season beginning in October 2014. Prospective visitors would have to pay a fee and the electronic version of the visa should be granted within three days. The program was expected to apply to all international airports. However, nationals of
Afghanistan,
Iran,
Iraq,
Nigeria,
Pakistan,
Somalia,
Sudan were to be excluded from this program. In July 2014 it was announced that India hoped to implement the program for citizens of 40 countries in the first phase by December 2014 and later on for 109 additional countries if the first phase were implemented successfully. In August 2014 it was revealed that ministries of Tourism, Home Affairs and External Affairs could not agree on the list of countries for the ETA. The
Ministry of Tourism proposed to allow the new system for the citizens of the 15 countries with the most visitors to India, the
Ministry of External Affairs proposed to create a balanced list with some Asian and African countries, while the
Ministry of Home Affairs proposed to exclude all countries with high security concerns. In September 2014 Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi announced that the
United States would be added to the list of countries whose citizens may obtain a visa on arrival. However, in October 2014 the planned introduction of the new e-Visa system was pushed from 2 October 2014 to June 2015. It was also revealed that the list of visa on arrival countries was unlikely to be expanded in 2014. In November 2014 it was announced that the e-visa system might be rolled out for about 25 countries including the 13 countries that were already eligible for visa on arrival. Later that month it was announced that 28 countries would become eligible for an electronic visa on 27 November 2014 and that the list would include visa on arrival eligible countries as well as
Brazil,
Germany,
Israel,
Jordan,
Mauritius,
Norway,
Palestine,
Russia,
Thailand,
Ukraine,
United Arab Emirates,
United States. In November 2014, the Indian Prime Minister announced visa on arrival facility for nationals of all Pacific countries and Australia.
2015 The manual processing of the visa on arrival was discontinued in January 2015. In February 2015, the
Ministry of Tourism proposed extending the facility to citizens of
China,
United Kingdom,
Spain,
France,
Italy and
Malaysia. Subsequently, the
Minister of Finance announced that the facility would be extended, in stages, to citizens of 150 countries. In March 2015 it was announced that 53 nations were shortlisted for the second round of expansion of the system based on the number of tourist arrivals in the previous years. After the Government was criticised for naming the new policy "Visa on arrival" it decided to rename it to "e-Tourist Visa (eTV)" in April 2015. The e-Tourist Visa facility was extended to 31 new countries on 1 May 2015. In May 2015,
Indian Foreign Ministry announced that Chinese citizens would be able to apply for e-Tourist Visa facility in order to coordinate Prime Minister
Narendra Modi visiting China between 14 and 16 May. Disputes about the
Sino-Indian border and national security would be postponed. On 29 July 2015, the
Indian Ministry of Home Affairs announced the extension of e-Tourist Visa facility to nationals of
China, including
Hong Kong and
Macau, with effect from 30 July 2015. The list of eligible nationalities was extended with 36 new countries on 15 August 2015. On the same day the list of eTV airports was expanded with 7 new airports. The extension to 150 nationalities was scheduled to be finished by 31 March 2016. In September 2015 it was announced that the list would be expanded by another 37 countries.
2016 In January 2016 it was announced that the extension would take place by March 2016. In November 2015 it was announced that the visa validity would be extended to 180 days. In January 2016 it was announced that the multiple entries would become available and that e-Tourist Visa holders would receive a gift pack on arrival. The eTV list was extended for tourists from 37 more countries on 26 February 2016. In September 2016 it was announced that the electronic visa scheme would be reformed to include 27 visa codes denoting various visit purposes such as tourism, business or medical visits. It was also announced that the list of visa on arrival eligible countries would be expanded. On 30 November 2016 the Government of India approved further liberalization, simplification and rationalization of visa regime in India. It also announced that more countries would be added to the e-visa list. The e-visa would have a validity of 60 days and could be applied for by foreign nationals up to four months ahead of the visit. Five seaports – Mumbai, Kochi, Chennai, Goa and Mangaluru – would receive tourists coming with e-visa.
2017 From 1 April 2017 e-visas are granted under three categories of tourist, business and medical. The window for application under e-visa scheme was increased from 30 days to 120 days, and duration of stay on e-visa was increased from 30 days to 60 days, with double entry on e-tourist and e-business visa, and triple entry on e-medical visa. The list of eligible nationalities was also further expanded with 11 new countries,
2018 During 2018,
Iran,
Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan and
Qatar were added to the list of e-Visa eligible countries. For e-tourist visa, continuous stay during each visit shall not exceed 180 days for nationals of Canada, Japan, United Kingdom and United States, or 90 days for nationals of other eligible countries. No
FRRO (Foreigners Regional Registration Officer) registration is required. For e-business visa, continuous stay during each visit should not exceed 180 days for nationals of all eligible countries, and no FRRO (Foreigners Regional Registration Officer) registration is required if the stay is for less than 180 days. During 2019,
Saudi Arabia,
Belarus and
Benin were added to the list of e-Visa eligible countries.
2020 During 2020, Equatorial Guinea and Togo were added to the list of e-Visa eligible countries. In August 2021, the category of emergency e-Visa was introduced for nationals of Afghanistan.
2022 In 2022, the Indian government announced plans to introduce an
Ayush visa for those coming to India for
traditional medicine. In December 2022, the e-Visa facility was resumed for nationals of Canada, the United Kingdom and seven Asian countries that had been removed in 2021. In February 2025, the e-Visa facility was resumed for nationals of Qatar, which had been removed in 2021. In December 2025,
Minister of Culture and
Tourism Gajendra Singh Shekhawat announced plans to expand the visa-on-arrival facility to nationals of more countries based on
reciprocity, and to simplify the e-Visa application. In December 2025, an e-Visa category was added for production investment. This category also replaced the business e-Visa for nationals of China, including Hong Kong and Macau. ==Costs of visa applications==