Official website

All international travelers to India must have a valid passport and an Indian visa unless exempt under specific bilateral agreements. Persons of Indian origin must possess an OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) card.

Visas can be obtained through two methods: e-Visa and regular visa. The e-Visa process is more straightforward and quicker, typically taking 3-4 business days.

Nationals from 166 countries can avail themselves of the e-Visa, and the full list is available on the e-Visa portal. Those who do not qualify for an e-Visa must apply for a standard visa at the nearest Indian Mission or Embassy in their home country.

Those travelling to India are also advised to go through instructions available on the official website of Bureau of Immigration.

Applying for e-visa:

Official website:

• eVisa website
• Sample application form (eTourist visa)

Notes

• See Conference Visa below.

• e-Visa is non-extendable, non-convertible & not valid for visiting Protected/Restricted and Cantonment Areas. If you intend to visit Protected/Restricted/Cantonment areas, you would require prior permission from the Civil Authority.

• For e-Tourist and e-Business visas, Applicants of the eligible countries/territories may apply online minimum 4 days in advance of the date of arrival.

• Persons holding eVisa will be allowed to enter into India only through the 29 designated international airports namely Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bagdogra, Bengaluru, Bhubaneshwar, Calicut, Chennai, Chandigarh, Cochin, Coimbatore, Delhi, Gaya, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kannur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Madurai, Mangalore, Mumbai, Nagpur, Port Blair, Pune, Tiruchirapalli, Trivandrum, Varanasi & Visakhapatnam, and 5 designated seaports (i.e. Cochin, Goa, Mangalore, Chennai and Mumbai seaports). They may depart from any of the Indian Immigration Check Posts (ICPs).

• e-Visa fee is Country/Territory specific. To know the fee applicable for e-Tourist Visa on your Country/Territory please click here and for other e-Visa click here.

• Once your Electronic Visa Authorisation (ETA) has been granted, you should print it by clicking in Check your Visa Status in the eVisa website. If you applied for a conference visa, it is also recommended to bring along a printed copy of the Invitation letter from the organizer.

Applying for Regular/Paper visa through Indian Mission/Post

Official website:

• Regular/paper visa website
• Instructions

Notes

• See Conference Visa below.

• Applicants must fill and submit application form online. After online submission, applicant must print the completed application form and sign and submit the physical copy along with the supporting documents and the Passport to the concerned Indian Visa Application Center (IVAC) or directly at the Indian Mission on the scheduled appointed date.

• The applicants are requested to visit website of the Indian Mission concerned for detailed information about Indian visa.

• The fee depends upon the type of applied for and its duration of visa.

• Upon receipt of the Visa Application through Indian Visa Application Center or directly, the Indian Mission/ Post requires a minimum of three working days to process the case and issue a visa depending upon the nationality and excluding special cases.

Conference visa

We suggest you apply for the e-Conference visa instead of the tourist visa for your visit to India for UbuCon Asia’24. Those applying for an e-Conference visa can also do some tourism before and after the event.

The e-Conference visa is only valid for 30 days from the date of arrival into India. In case you are planning to stay longer than that, we advice you to look for other types of visa on official website.

To apply for either e-Conference visa or regular conference visa, you will require invitation from the organizer and Political clearance from Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India. Please contact travel@ubucon.asia

We can provide you a visa invitation letter once your registration is confirmed. We will have to mention who will pay for your expenses in the invitation letter, so if you are applying for a travel grant we will have to wait for travel grant approval before we can send you the visa invitation. If your expenses are covered by someone else, like your employer, then mention that in your email, so we can include that information in your invite letter.

For us to send visa invitation letters, please email us your:

1. Full name, as it appears on your passport
2. Passport number
3. Date of birth
4. Place (country) of birth
5. Nationality
6. Home Address
7. Photos of page(s) of your passport with personal information, personal photograph and passport number.

The invitation letter will be provided by JECRC Incubation Centre Foundation. The information above, including the passport scans, will be shared with them.

The visa invitation letter process will take us at least three weeks, please remember to request as early as possible. We have to submit the list of participants who need visa to Ministry of External Affairs and get Political clearance from Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India (this can take up to two weeks). Getting signature from JECRC in the invitation letter also takes time (this is processed in multiple batches).

Note: We will be able to provide you invitation letter only if you send passport details by 10th May.

Completing the eConference visa form

The form is quite long, expect to spend at least half an hour on it.

Some tips to help you navigate the visa form:

• If the form gets stuck, try closing it and resuming the application.
• If you need to go back, you can save and exit, then resume from the first page by using your temporary application ID.
• Visible identification marks: refers to tattoos and visible scarring. You can put “NA” in the field.
• Designation refers to a job title.
• Prepare a square photograph, interface will make you crop out a square from it.

Reference:

The visa team will provide the contact address of a local team member to be used as a reference along with invitation letter and political clearance from MEA.

Documents:

• Invitation from organizer: Will be provided by the visa team.
• Political clearance from MEA: Will be provided by the visa team.