Roughly 1 in 12 India e-Visa applications gets rejected or sent back for corrections, and most of those rejections happen because of one thing: a bad photo. Not a bad criminal record. Not a suspicious travel history. A photo where the background is slightly off-white or the file is 2MB over the limit. The system is automated, and the automation is strict.

This guide walks through the actual application flow, the specific technical requirements that trip people up, and the mistakes that cost travelers days of waiting for nothing. This is not legal advice — visa rules change, and you should always verify current requirements with the official Indian government portal before applying.

The Real Difference Between e-Visa Types (And Why Most People Pick Wrong)

The Indian government offers several e-Visa categories, and the names are not intuitive. A “tourist e-Visa” is not always the right choice for a tourist. A “business e-Visa” is not just for people in suits. The category you select determines your allowed activities, your maximum stay, and your entry window.

e-Tourist Visa

This is the one most travelers need. It allows sightseeing, visiting friends, casual business meetings, and short-term yoga programs. You cannot work, film documentaries, or enroll in university courses. The standard e-Tourist Visa now comes in three validity windows: 30 days (double entry), 1 year (multiple entry), and 5 years (multiple entry). The 30-day version is cheaper but starts counting from the day of arrival, not the day of approval.

e-Business Visa

This covers attending meetings, setting up business ventures, recruiting, and participating in trade fairs. It does not cover actual employment or running a business day-to-day. If you’re going to India to sign a contract, this is your category. If you’re going to work for an Indian company, you need a regular employment visa through the embassy, not the e-Visa system.

e-Medical and e-Medical Attendant Visa

For people seeking medical treatment at recognized Indian hospitals. The attendant visa is for up to two family members accompanying the patient. These are triple-entry visas and require a letter from the hospital where treatment is planned.

Here is the breakdown of what actually matters for most travelers:

My pick for most first-time visitors: the 30-day e-Tourist Visa. It is the cheapest, processes fastest, and covers the typical two-week Golden Triangle trip without overpaying for entry windows you will not use.

The Photo and Passport Scan Requirements That Cause 80% of Rejections

Most rejections are not about who you are. They are about pixels, file sizes, and background colors. The Indian e-Visa portal runs automated checks before a human ever looks at your file. If the image fails the automated check, the system flags it immediately.

The photo requirements are specific. The background must be plain white or off-white. No shadows on the face or background. Both ears visible. Head centered. No glasses with tinted lenses. The file must be JPEG format, between 10KB and 1MB, and square aspect ratio. Not a selfie from your phone against a beige wall. Not a scanned passport photo with a gray background.

The passport scan is where people get lazy. The scan must show the entire first page — photo, name, date of birth, passport number, issue and expiry dates — all in one image. No cropping off the bottom. No glare on the photo. The file must be PDF or JPEG, between 10KB and 300KB. A 4MB phone photo of your passport will get rejected. Always.

Here is the practical fix. Use a proper passport photo service — not a drugstore photo booth, but a service that gives you a digital file with the correct white background and square crop. In the UK, Snappy Snaps does digital passport photos with the exact specs. In the US, CVS and Walgreens both offer digital passport photo files. For the passport scan, use a scanner at a library or office, set to 200 DPI, color, save as JPEG. Do not use a phone camera unless you absolutely have to, and if you do, hold the phone perfectly parallel to the passport and check for glare.

One more thing: your passport must be valid for at least six months from your arrival date in India, and it must have at least two blank pages. If it does not, do not apply. Renew your passport first.

Step-by-Step: The Exact Application Flow

The application itself takes about 30–45 minutes if you have everything ready. If you do not have everything ready, it takes three hours and ends in frustration. Gather these before you start:

• Passport with 6+ months validity and 2 blank pages
• Digital photo meeting the specs above
• Passport scan meeting the specs above
• A credit or debit card (Visa, Mastercard, or Amex) for the fee
• Your travel dates and first night’s accommodation address in India
• An email address you check regularly

Go to the official portal: indianvisaonline.gov.in. Do not use third-party sites. They charge $50–$150 extra for the same form and sometimes introduce errors. The official site looks dated, and that is fine. It works.

1. Click “e-Visa Application” and select your nationality and visa type.
2. Fill in personal details exactly as they appear on your passport. Middle names matter. If your passport says “James Robert Smith”, do not put “James Smith”.
3. Upload the photo and passport scan. Check the file sizes before uploading.
4. Enter your travel details. Your first night’s accommodation is required — have the hotel name and address ready. If you are staying with family, put their full address.
5. Pay the fee. The amount depends on nationality and visa type. US and UK citizens typically pay $40–$80 for the 30-day tourist visa.
6. Save the Application ID. Write it down. Screenshot it. Email it to yourself. You will need it to check status.

Processing typically takes 3–5 business days, but it can take up to 72 hours for the 30-day tourist visa and up to 5 days for the 1-year and 5-year versions. Apply at least two weeks before your flight. Do not book non-refundable flights before the visa is approved. Airlines check visa status at check-in, and if your e-Visa is still pending, you will be denied boarding.

Why Third-Party “Visa Agencies” Are a Trap (And When They Are Not)

Search “India e-Visa” on Google and the top results are almost all third-party agencies. They buy ads. They rank well. They charge $79–$199 for something the Indian government charges $25–$80 for. And they do not add anything.

These sites fill out the same form you would fill out yourself. They upload the same documents. They pay the same government fee. The extra money buys you a middleman who might introduce errors and definitely adds a layer of delay. If something goes wrong, you are dealing with a customer service rep in a call center, not the Indian Bureau of Immigration.

When is a third-party service worth it? If you have a complicated case — a criminal record, a previous visa rejection, a passport from a country with special restrictions — then a licensed immigration attorney or a reputable visa service like CIBTvisas can help you prepare a stronger application. But for the standard tourist e-Visa, the official portal is faster and cheaper. No exceptions.

The Arrival Process: What Happens at the Airport

Having an approved e-Visa does not guarantee entry. The immigration officer at the airport makes the final call. They will scan your passport, pull up your e-Visa record, and ask basic questions: purpose of visit, length of stay, where you are staying. Answer clearly and honestly. Do not say you are “doing some work” if you are on a tourist visa — that is a red flag. Say you are sightseeing or visiting friends.

Carry a printed copy of your e-Visa approval. The email PDF is technically enough, but phone screens fail, batteries die, and airport Wi-Fi is unreliable. Print it. Also carry proof of onward travel — a return flight or a flight to a third country. Immigration officers rarely ask for it, but when they do, not having it causes problems.

The e-Visa is linked to your passport number. If you renew your passport after getting the e-Visa, the e-Visa is void. You must apply again with the new passport. This catches people who apply months in advance and then renew their passport before the trip. Apply with the passport you will travel on.

Common Rejection Reasons and How to Fix Them

Rejections are not final. You can reapply, but you must fix the underlying problem first. Here are the most common rejection reasons and the fix for each:

Photo background not white enough. The automated system checks for white or off-white backgrounds. A cream wall, a light blue backdrop, or a shadowed background all fail. Fix: get a proper digital passport photo with a pure white background.

Passport scan cropped or illegible. The system needs the entire first page visible and readable. Fix: rescan at 200 DPI, full page, no glare, save as JPEG under 300KB.

Name mismatch with passport. Middle names, hyphens, and spacing all matter. If your passport says “Anne-Marie”, do not type “Anne Marie”. Fix: match the passport exactly, character for character.

Previous visa overstay. If you overstayed a previous Indian visa, even by a few days, the system flags you. Fix: apply for a regular visa through the embassy and explain the overstay. An e-Visa will likely be rejected again.

Applying from the wrong portal. Some travelers accidentally apply for a regular visa on the embassy site and then wonder why their e-Visa is not processing. Fix: use indianvisaonline.gov.in for e-Visas, not the embassy site.

If your application is rejected, you will receive a rejection notice with a reason code. You can reapply immediately after fixing the issue. There is no waiting period for tourist e-Visa rejections, though repeated rejections will make future approvals harder.

When NOT to Use the e-Visa (And What to Do Instead)

The e-Visa is not the right tool for every trip. If you are traveling for journalism, filmmaking, missionary work, or NGO activities, you need a regular visa through the Indian embassy. The e-Visa explicitly excludes these activities, and entering on a tourist e-Visa while doing journalism can get you deported and banned.

If you hold an OCI card (Overseas Citizen of India), you do not need an e-Visa at all. The OCI card gives you lifelong, multiple-entry access to India without a visa. If you are eligible for an OCI card and plan to visit India regularly, get the OCI card instead of repeated e-Visas. It costs more upfront ($275–$300) but pays for itself after three or four trips.

If you are from a country eligible for Visa on Arrival — which is a short list, mostly including Japan, South Korea, and UAE citizens — you can skip the e-Visa entirely and get a visa at the airport. But check the current list before relying on this. The list changes, and it is much shorter than most travelers assume.

For most travelers from the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and Europe, the e-Visa is the right call. It is faster than the embassy, cheaper than a visa agency, and entirely manageable if you follow the technical requirements exactly. The people who fail are the people who rush the photo, use a phone camera for the passport scan, or apply 48 hours before their flight.

Apply two weeks early. Use the official portal. Get a proper photo. Scan your passport correctly. Print the approval. That is the entire game.

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Lauren Pope