News report | | 01-10-2025 | ±2 minutes reading time

Currently, travellers to India must fill in a paper arrival card during their flight. This is about to change, as India will soon introduce a digital arrival card. The new measure is likely to come into effect on October 1st .

The new Arrival Card

The arrival card is a short questionnaire where travellers need to fill in some important data about their trip. Upon arrival, the card needs to be handed to the immigration officials at the airport.

A digital procedure for faster entry

Late September 2025, the Indian government announced that the paper arrival card will soon disappear. Travellers to India will be required to fill out a digital arrival card instead. This is done to simplify procedures and reduce waiting times at the airport. India is actually following the example of other countries, such as Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore. These countries have already replaced the physical arrival card some time ago. After the official introduction of the arrival card, travellers will be able to enter the necessary information during the three days prior to their arrival in the country.

New arrival procedure

The Indian government has created a new portal for the new digital arrival card. Travellers will be able enter all the necessary information there. However, the website is still in the testing phase and is therefore only available in beta version for now.

Data that should be indicated in the new arrival card

  • Full name of the traveller
  • Nationality
  • Passport number
  • Reason for travel (tourism, business, medical, ayurvedic, conference, research, study or work)
  • Arrival date
  • Countries visited by the traveller in the last 6 days
  • Address during the trip
  • e-mail address
  • Telephone number
  • Telephone number of the emergency contact person

E-visa for India

The introduction of the arrival card does not exclude you from the visa requirement for India. In other words, travellers still need an (electronic) visa to travel to the country. In e-Visa.ie you can submit your application via an online application form with clear explanations. The procedure takes place entirely online. Read more about the validity period and the requirements. Once the applicaiton is submitted you will need to wait for an average of 7 days for your visa to be approved. If you submit an urgent application, you will receive your visa on 24 hours hours on average. However, it is always recommended to apply for your visa well in advance.

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e-Visa.ie is a commercial and professional visa agency, and supports travellers in obtaining, among others, the India visa. e-Visa.ie is an official partner of the International Air Transport Association, IATA, with membership number 57231226, acts as an intermediary, is no law firm, nor does it employ lawyers, does not provide legal advice, and is in no way part of any government. You can also apply for a visa directly with the immigration service (25,89 USD per visa, via indianvisaonline.gov.in). However, not with our level of support. If you submit your application via e-Visa.ie, our support centre is available to you 24/7. In addition, we manually check your application and all the documents you provide before submitting it to the immigration authorities on your behalf. If we suspect any errors or omissions while doing so, we will personally contact you to ensure that your application can still be processed quickly and correctly. To use our services, you pay us 25,89 USD in consular fees, which we pay to the immigration service on your behalf, as well as € 37,80 in service fees as compensation for our services, including VAT. Our services have saved many travellers from major problems during their trip. Should an application be rejected despite our support and verification, we will refund the full purchase price (unless an application for a previous India visa was rejected for the same traveller). Read more about our services here.