Three things have to be done online before you fly to India: the tourist e-Visa, the e-Arrival Card and the Air Suvidha health form. All three are quick. All three arrive by email. We still ask every customer to print them and carry the paper, and this post explains why. It is the first in our series on the essentials for an India holiday.
Rules here are as they stood in October 2026 for people travelling on a full British Citizen passport. India changes its entry rules from time to time, so check the official sites linked below in the week before you fly, or ask us.
In short
- Tourist e-Visa. Apply online between 4 and 120 days before you land. Print the approval email.
- e-Arrival Card. Fill in online within 72 hours of landing. It is free. Print the QR code.
- Air Suvidha health form. Fill in online within 24 hours of landing. It is free. Print the confirmation.
- Passport. At least six months left on the day you arrive, and two blank pages.
Step 1: the tourist e-Visa
Most British visitors use the e-Visa. There is one official website: indianvisaonline.gov.in/evisa. Plenty of look-alike sites appear above it in search results and charge two or three times the government fee for filling in the same form. Type the address in yourself.
Which one to choose
- 30-day e-Tourist Visa. Two entries. The 30 days run from the day you first land. Right for a single holiday of up to four weeks.
- 1-year e-Tourist Visa. Multiple entries, valid for a year from the day it is granted, with up to 180 days in India in any calendar year. It costs a little more than the 30-day visa and covers you if your dates move or you go back.
- 5-year e-Tourist Visa. Same terms as the 1-year visa over five years. The fee for British passports went up sharply in late 2025, so it only pays if you visit often.
The fee depends on your nationality and, for the 30-day visa, on the season. The site shows the exact amount before you pay, and the bank adds a small card charge. Fees are not refunded if the application is turned down, so check every detail before you press pay.
When to apply
The earliest you can apply is 120 days before you travel. The latest is 4 days before. Most approvals come back within three or four working days. We suggest applying two to three weeks before departure. That leaves time to fix a rejected photo or a typo without a panic.
What you need
- A passport with at least six months left on your arrival date and two blank pages.
- A scan of the passport photo page as a PDF, between 10 KB and 300 KB.
- A recent photo of your face as a JPEG, between 10 KB and 1 MB. Plain light background, eyes open, no glasses, nothing covering the face. A phone photo against a white wall works.
- The name and address of your first hotel. It is on your booking confirmation from us.
- Your arrival airport and flight dates.
- A debit or credit card.
The form asks about your parents, your job, your employer and any previous visits to India. Answer plainly. A small slip, such as a passport number one digit out, is the usual reason an application is refused.
After approval
The approval is called an ETA, an Electronic Travel Authorisation. It arrives by email. Check that your name and passport number match your passport exactly. Then print it. The Indian government asks e-Visa holders to carry a printed copy, and the airline will want to see it at check-in in the UK. At the Indian airport the officer scans it, takes your fingerprints and photo, and stamps the visa into your passport.
An e-Visa only lets you arrive at the designated international airports and seaports. That covers every airport our India holidays use, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Goa, Kolkata, Amritsar, Jaipur and Thiruvananthapuram.
If you or either of your parents were born in Pakistan, or you hold a Pakistani passport, the e-Visa is not open to you. You apply for a regular visa through the High Commission and the processing takes much longer. Tell us when you book and we will build the time in.
Step 2: the e-Arrival Card
India replaced the paper landing card with an online form on 1 October 2025. The paper version was withdrawn altogether on 1 April 2026, so there is nothing to fill in on the plane any more.
Everyone arriving on a foreign passport must complete it, including Overseas Citizen of India cardholders. Indian passport holders are exempt, and so are passengers who stay airside in transit.
- Where. indianvisaonline.gov.in/earrival, or the Su-Swagatam app from the app stores.
- When. Within the 72 hours before you land. The site will not accept it earlier. A good moment is the evening before you fly.
- Cost. Nothing. Any site that charges for it is not the official one.
- What it asks. Passport details, visa number, flight number, your address in India for the first night, and a contact number or email. One form can cover a family or group of up to five people.
- What you get. An acknowledgement with a QR code, by email. Immigration scans it at the desk.
The e-Arrival Card is not a visa. You still need the e-Visa in Step 1, or an OCI card, to be let in.
Step 3: the Air Suvidha health form
Air Suvidha started life as the Covid form and was dropped in 2022. It came back on 25 June 2026 as Air Suvidha 2.0, a health self-declaration brought in for Ebola screening after the World Health Organization declared an emergency in May. Every international passenger arriving in India must complete it, British or Indian, whatever visa they hold.
- Where. airsuvidha.civilaviation.gov.in. The Indian government has warned about copycat sites that take you to a payment page. The real form is free.
- When. Within the 24 hours before you land. Do it the evening before you fly, or at the airport before check-in.
- What it asks. Passport details, flight number and arrival airport, your address in India, contact details, the countries you have been in over the last 21 days, and a few yes or no questions about symptoms.
- What you get. A completed form to download. Print it. Airline staff may ask to see it before boarding, and you show it at the health desk or immigration counter on arrival.
Arriving from the UK you will not be in an affected region, so this is a two-minute form and a glance at the desk. Skip it and you join a queue to fill it in on landing. There are no vaccination certificates to show on arrival from the UK, unless you have come through a country with yellow fever.
Why we say print it
All three forms are digital. Carry paper anyway.
- Phones run flat on a ten-hour flight, and the roaming data you need to open an email often does not connect until you are through immigration.
- The check-in agent in the UK has to see your visa before you board. A printout settles it in seconds.
- The immigration officer in India will often ask for the paper copy of the ETA, and the government's own instructions say to carry one.
- Your travelling companion's phone is not yours. Each person needs their own copies.
Put the printouts with your passport, and keep a photo of each on your phone as a second copy.
Your print list
- e-Visa approval (ETA), one per traveller.
- e-Arrival Card acknowledgement with the QR code, one per traveller or one per family group.
- Air Suvidha health form, one per traveller.
- Hotel confirmation with the address. You will type that address into both forms.
- Return flight details.
- Travel insurance certificate and the emergency number.
Before you leave the airport
Make sure the immigration officer stamps your passport. You will be asked to show that stamp when you leave India, and it is the proof that you have not overstayed. Check it before you walk away from the desk.
Overseas Citizen of India cardholders
If you hold an OCI card you do not need a visa. You still need the e-Arrival Card. Since June 2026 an electronic OCI can be shown on your phone instead of the physical card, but the same advice applies: carry a printout.
Where to check
- UK Foreign Office travel advice for India, updated whenever the rules change.
- Indian e-Visa portal, the only place to apply.
- e-Arrival Card portal.
- Air Suvidha portal for the health form.
Every India holiday we sell comes with a reminder of these steps and the hotel addresses you need for the forms. If you are unsure which visa to pick or how far ahead to apply, get in touch and we will talk it through. Browse our holidays to India.
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14 October 2026