Ministry of Tourism
Government of India
Press Release
Union Home Minister & Tourism Minister launch landmark Tourist Visa on Arrival Enabled with Electronic Travel Authorization Scheme
Shri Rajnath Singh, Union Home Minister, along with Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (I/C), Tourism & Culture, Civil Aviation, today launched the Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVOA) enabled with Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) Scheme.
The TVoA enabled with ETA Scheme will facilitate nationals of 43 countries to travel to India for tourism for a short stay of 30 days. The countries are Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, Cook Islands, Djibouti, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Finland, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kingdom of Tongo, Laos, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Mexico, Myanmar, New Zealand, Niue, Norway, Oman, Palestine, Papua & New Guinea, Philippines, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea (i.e. South Korea), Republic of Marshall Islands, Republic of Nauru, Republic of Palau, Russia, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Tuvalu, UAE, Ukraine, USA, Vietnam and Vanuatu.
The TVoA enabled with ETA would enable the prospective visitor to apply for an Indian Visa from his/her home country online without visiting the Indian Mission and also pay the visa fee online. Once approved, the applicant will receive an email authorising him/her to travel to India and he/she can travel with a print out of this authorization. On arrival, the visitor has to present the authorisation to the immigration authorities who would then stamp the entry into the country
Union Home Minister stated : “There is a great potential for promoting the Tourism Industry in the country. Our Govt. has decided that the existing manual system for processing Visa on Arrival has to be changed to IT based and now Electronic Travel Authorization is available for 43 countries in 72 hours. This is a big facility.”
He assured that MHA will create a framework to ensure safety & security of tourists in India.
The Minister of State (Independent Charge) Tourism & Culture, Civil Aviation, Dr. Mahesh Sharma said “This is a dream cum true for the entire Tourism Industry of India and is bound to positively impact the economy of the country . Our objective is to boost tourism to our country and implementation of TVoA enabled with ETA will send a clear and powerful message that India is serious in making travel to the country easy”
The Union Tourism Minister thanked all concerned, including officials from Ministry of Home Affairs, Bureau of Immigration ,Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Civil Aviation, National Informatics Center, Airports Authority of India and private Airport Operators for their whole hearted cooperation in making this happen.
This facility is available to Foreigners whose sole objective of visiting India is recreation, sight- seeing, short duration medical treatment, casual business visit, casual visit to meet friends or relatives etc. and not valid for any other purpose/activities. This will allow entry into India within 30 days from the date of approval of ETA. and will be Valid for 30 days stay in India from the date of arrival in India. The TVoA enabled with ETA cannot be availed more than twice in a calendar year. The facility will be available at 9 International airports in the country namely Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Goa.
The facility will encourage people to travel with short-term planning, take via routes while travelling to other countries and bring family members while on business visits.
