News report | | 07-10-2024 | ±2 minutes reading time

At the end of September, India announced on social media that they would offer 100,000 free visas to foreign tourists. The free visas are being provided under the Chalo India campaign. This is a broad campaign, supposed to promote India as a travel destination. Read about the requirements for the free India visa on this page.

The Chalo India campaign

India announced the Chalo India campaign in March 2024 already. This campaign encourages people of Indian origin who live abroad to promote India as a travel destination. People of Indian origin can use a special website to invite their foreign friends to travel to India. The person of Indian origin will receive a reward for each person who actually travels to India in the end. Therefore, they act as ambassadors for India.

Free visa under the Chalo India campaign

In order to make the Chalo India campaign more attractive, India promised to issue free visas to people who were invited by a person of Indian origin. This was announced at the end of September 2024, during the celebration of the World Tourism Day. According to the Indian Minister of Tourism and Culture, India will provide a total of 100,000 free visas under the campaign. Travellers must be invited by a holder of an OCI-card to be eligible for the free visa. This is a card that people of Indian origin can apply for at the Indian embassy to make it easier for them to travel to India. It is still unclear when the free visas will become available.

Free visas after the Covid pandemic

This is not the first time India offers free visas to foreign tourists. The announcement to offer 100,000 free visas is reminiscent of a similar policy in 2021 and 2022. When India reopened its borders after the travel restrictions relating to the Covid pandemic, the country offered 500,000 free visas to foreign travellers. The possibility of receiving a free visa was supposed to make a visit to India more attractive for foreign travellers.

The new free visa scheme, which was announced in September 2024, is only meant for travellers who are invited by a person of Indian origin. This differs from the free visas that were offered in 2021 and 2022, as the visas were free for all travellers. If you are not eligible for the free visa, you can apply for the Indian visa online.

Broader plans to promote tourism in India

The minister also announced broader plans to promote tourism, besides offering a free visa for India. The country will publish a list of less well-known travel destinations in India, which do have a lot of appeal for tourists. In the upcoming years, these destinations will receive additional attention from the government and project developers, to make them more accessible for foreign tourists. These measures are supposed to sustainably develop India into a popular travel destination.

Apply for an India visa online

You can apply for the India visa online. Both people who are eligible for the free visa and people who have to pay for their visa, can submit their applications online. To do this, you have to fill in an online application form and upload a few documents. The visa is issued by e-mail.

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