India e-Tourist Visa (180-day rule)

Key parameters
Limit	180 days
Period / Window	Per visit
Counting	Any part of a day
Alternative	90 days per visit
Additional requirements	180 days per calendar year, no work

The three main variants are different permissions, not just different lengths of the same one:

• 30-day — valid 30 days from your first arrival, multiple entries, no annual cap.
• 1-year — valid 365 days from grant, multiple entries, capped at 180 days of stay per calendar year.
• 5-year — valid 5 years from grant, multiple entries, the same 180-day annual cap.

A single visit is also capped, separately from the annual total: 90 days for most nationalities — though citizens of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Japan get 180 days per visit instead, enough to use a full year's allowance in one trip.

The e-Visa permits tourism, visiting family, short yoga or medical programmes, and casual business meetings under the separate business e-Visa — not employment, journalism, research, or missionary work.

• A 5-year visa is not a 5-year stay. It's five years of being able to travel, with 180 days of actual presence available in each calendar year.
• The reset is the calendar, not your visa date. Someone who uses 180 days between July and December gets a fresh 180 on 1 January, while someone who used them January to June waits until the following January.
• Overland entry works only at named crossings. Entry is restricted to designated points, overwhelmingly airports and seaports, with a short and periodically revised list of land crossings alongside them. Departure is far less restricted, so the risk sits entirely on the way in.
• Some nationalities can't use the e-Visa at all and need a regular visa from an Indian mission, and the eligible list changes.
• Certain areas need additional permits regardless of your visa. Protected and restricted areas require a separate permit that the e-Visa doesn't cover.

Overstaying an Indian visa carries a fine that escalates with the length of the overstay. It has to be settled with the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) before you can leave, which is an exit-clearance process rather than a payment at the airport. Longer overstays bring deportation and a blacklisting that blocks future visas, and both stay on your immigration record. Professional advice is strongly recommended in situations like this.

A short holiday on the 30-day visa

You apply online, receive your authorisation, and fly into Delhi for a three-week trip. The 30-day visa covers it, and multiple entries let you dip into Nepal and return within the same 30-day window.

A visit that straddles New Year

You hold a 5-year visa and stay from early December to late January. The December days count against one calendar year's 180 and the January days against the next, and the trip stays inside the 90-day limit on a single visit.

Running out of allowance mid-year

You hold a 1-year visa and make three separate trips between January and June, totalling 180 days. Your visa remains valid for months more, but you cannot re-enter until 1 January, when a fresh annual allowance begins.

• Bureau of Immigration — Indian e-Visa official portal
• Bureau of Immigration, Ministry of Home Affairs