Who Can Apply?

A tourist visa can only be granted to a foreigner who does not have a residence or occupation in India and whose sole objective of visiting India is recreation, sight seeing, casual visit to meet friends and relatives etc . No other activity is permissible on a tourist visa. A tourist visa may be issued normally for six months with multiple entries and is non extendable and non convertible. The duration of the visa is the sole discretion of the Authority.
Foreigners applying for voluntary work in NGO’s must apply for an employment visa.

Other Country visits: If a person desires to enter India more than once within a 60 days period during the validity of the visa, he/she should apply for a multiple entry visa and provide an itinerary showing dates of re-entry and details of travel.  A maximum of three entries per visa are permitted and on final exit, re-entry permit condition, as indicated below applies.

Re-Entry Permit: If after a visa is issued, and the applicant needs to re-enter India within two months of exit, a Re-entry Permit is required (even for a multiple entry visa holder). After processing such cases an endorsement would be made on passport permitting two to three entries depending on the itinerary and supporting documents submitted by the applicant. This service can be availed directly at the, High Commission of India in Canberra/Consulate General of India in Sydney/Melbourne. In all such cases the applicant should register with the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer (FRRO) with in 14 days of arrival. Authorities in India may also grant such re-entry permit to persons of Indian origin in emergency cases.

No Restrictions: The restriction of a two month gap for re-entering India does not apply to foreign nationals holding any other type of visa or PIO or OCI holders.

If an applicant applies for Tourist visa with in one month of expiry of previous visa, the processing would take longer i.e. up to 45 days.

Tourist visa can also be issued for a period of 5 years to the nationals of France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Spain, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico but stay at each visit in India should not exceed 180 days.

The visas are not issued from the future date to match applicant’s itinerary for inward and outwards journey to/from India and are effective from the date of issue.