10^th April 2019 

To All Members, 

Sub: Amendments in rules for e-Tourist and e- Business Visa  -  E-Visa Amendment to ch-2 e-Visa of the Visa Manual

Dear Colleagues, 

Attached please find  a copy of circular no. 531 dated 8^th March 2019 issued by Ministry of Home Affairs (Foreigners Division), Government of India regarding amendment in  Chapter 2 of ‘E-Visa” of the Visa Manual. 

As per the existing  norms, the applicant can apply for all Sub-categories of e-Visa 120 days in advance prior to expected date of arrival in India and validity of E-Visa is counted from the date of first entry into India. Since the validity of Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) issued is presently 120 days, if a person who is issued ETA for e-Tourist or E- Business Visa does not enter India within 120 days, he/she cannot avail the 1-year duration e-Tourism or e-Business Visa.

Therefore to remove this anomaly, changes have been made for e-Tourist and e-Business Visa by doing away with the present restriction for applying for e-visa (i.e. 120 days in advance prior to expected date of arrival in India), in case of e-Tourism and e-Business visa. 

• According to the attached circular, e-Tourist and e-Business visa applicant would be eligible to enter India from the date of grant of ETA till any time in the next 365 days i.e. the ETA would be valid during the entire period of 365 days.  
• Also E-Visa for tourists will be for a period of one year from the date of issue of Electronic Travel Authorisation instead of period up to one year from the date of first entry India with multiple entry on E-Tourist Visa and E-Business Visa subject to the following conditions:-     

(a)  On e-Tourist Visa continuous stay during each visit shall not exceed 90 days in case of National of all countries who are eligible to grant of e-Visa except national of USA, UK, Canada and Japan. In case of nationals of USA, UK, Canada and Japan, continuous stay during each visit shall not exceed 180 days.  In all case no registration will be required.

(b)  On e-Business visa continuous stay during each visit shall not exceed 180 days in case of nationals of all countries who are eligible for grant of E-Visa and no registration will be required if the stay is for a period of less than 180 days. However, if the intension of the foreigner is to stay for more than 180 days, he/she will get himself/herself registered with the FRRO/FRO concerned within two weeks after the expiry of 180 days of his/her arrival in India as provided in rule 7 of the registration of Foreigners Rules 1992. Further the foreigner will also be required to register with the FRRO/FRO concerned in case the aggregate stay in India on e-Business Visa and/or normal Business Visa exceeds 180 days during a calendar year.    

With best regards, 

Rajesh Mudgill 

Hony. Secretary 

From: anjali.kumari@gov.in [/src/compose.php?send_to=anjali.kumari@gov.in] 
Sent: 05 April 2019 15:24
To: info@adtoi.in; sect@adtoi.in; diplomatictravels@gmail.com; tours@shikhar.com; ajeetbajaj@hotmail.com; 

hai@hotelassociationofindia.com; info@hotelassociationofindia.com; FHRAI@VSNL.COM;

 secretariat@faithtourismindia.in; iato@airtelmail.in; iato@eth.net; taai@taai.in; goitodelhi@nic.in; 

indiatourismmum@nic.in; indiatourism.chn@nic.in; indtour6100@dataone.in; Sanjeev.Mukhi@conneqtcorp.com;

 Reza.Captain@conneqtcorp.com
Cc: neeraj@nic.in; mos.tourism@gov.in; sectour@nic.in; aashima.mehrotra@gov.in;

dg-tourism@nic.in; ADG <meenakshi.sharma63@gov.in>
Subject: Amendment to ch-2 e-Visa of the Visa Manual

Sir/Mam,