Medical travel · Visa guide
India’s e-Medical visa, read from the official rules.
How the e-Medical visa for patients and the e-Medical Attendant visa for companions work: who applies, what to upload, when to apply, what it costs and what happens if treatment runs long.
Checked on against the official sources
- Indian e-Visa portal (Bureau of Immigration, MHA) (opens in a new tab)
- Official e-Visa fee table for e-Medical and e-Medical Attendant visas (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
- e-FRRO portal (registration, extensions and exit permits in India) (opens in a new tab)
- Consulate General of India, Dubai: medical and medical attendant visas (opens in a new tab)
Rules can change without notice. Read the current text on the official portal before you apply; where this page and the portal differ, the portal is right.
Patient and companions
Two visas, side by side.
The patient holds the e-Medical visa. Up to two companions hold e-Medical Attendant visas that exist only alongside it. Everything else follows from that pairing.
| Detail | e-Medical visa (patient) | e-Medical Attendant visa |
|---|---|---|
| Who it is for | The patient, travelling for medical treatment, including treatment under Indian systems of medicine | A companion travelling as attendant to an e-Medical visa holder |
| How many | One per patient | Up to two per e-Medical visa |
| Uploads besides the photo | Passport bio page and the hospital letter | Passport bio page only |
| When to apply | At least 4 days and up to 120 days before arrival | The same window |
| Entries | Multiple | Multiple |
| Validity | Listed two ways on the portal; see the note below | Listed the same way as the patient’s |
| Fee | Set by nationality in the official fee table | The same as the patient’s in that table |
| Extension | Described as non-extendable; any further stay is for the FRRO to decide | As for the patient |
Validity: the portal currently gives two answers
Its visa-type summary lists both the e-Medical and e-Medical Attendant visas as valid for one year (365 days) from the date of arrival, with multiple entries. Its FAQ still says 60 days from the date of first arrival, with multiple entries inside that period. Until the portal is consistent, plan treatment and recovery inside the validity printed on your ETA and stamped at immigration, and leave a margin.
Eligibility
Who can use it, and who cannot.
You can apply if
- You hold a passport of one of the countries and territories on the portal’s list, which named 175 when we checked
- The passport has at least six months of validity when you apply, and two blank pages
- You hold a return or onward ticket and enough money for your stay
- The purpose is treatment, or accompanying the patient as an attendant
The e-Visa is not available to
- Holders of Pakistani passports and people of Pakistani origin, including where a parent or grandparent was born or lived permanently in Pakistan
- Holders of diplomatic or official passports, laissez-passer or other travel documents
- Anyone endorsed on a parent’s or spouse’s passport rather than holding their own
- People with a serving or retired defence, military, security or police background
The portal directs these travellers to apply for a regular visa through an Indian mission.
Applying
Nine steps to a granted ETA.
The order matters: the hospital letter comes first, and companions apply as attendants to the patient’s visa.
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Get the hospital letter
Ask the hospital’s international desk for a letter on its letterhead giving your tentative date of admission or treatment, with your name, nationality and passport number exactly as printed in your passport. It must be in English.
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Check every passport
Each needs at least six months of validity on the day you apply and two blank pages for the immigration stamp. Children need their own passport and their own application.
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Prepare the uploads
A square JPEG photo between 10 KB and 1 MB, the passport bio page as a PDF of 10 to 300 KB and, for the patient, the hospital letter as a PDF of the same size.
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The patient applies
Only on indianvisaonline.gov.in, choosing the e-Medical visa. The portal expects applicants to complete the form themselves and estimates 10 to 15 minutes with documents ready.
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Pay the fee online
Pay at least four days before travel or the application is not processed. If the payment status does not update, wait two hours before trying again so you are not charged twice.
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Companions apply as attendants
Each companion files their own e-Medical Attendant application as attendant to the patient’s e-Medical visa. No more than two are granted per patient.
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Wait for “Granted”
The decision arrives by email and can be checked on the portal. Travel only once every traveller’s ETA shows as granted.
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Before the flight
Print each ETA to carry, and file the e-Arrival card online within 72 hours before arrival.
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At immigration in India
Enter through a designated entry point, give your biometrics and have the e-Visa stamped in your passport.
The key document
The hospital letter, line by line.
It is the one upload a patient cannot produce alone, so ask for it as soon as the hospital proposes a date.
What the portal asks for
- The treating hospital’s letterhead, from a hospital in India
- The date or tentative date of admission or treatment
- The patient’s name, nationality and passport number
- Written in English
- Uploaded as a PDF of 10 to 300 KB
Check the spelling of every name against the passport before uploading. If the hospital later moves your date, tell your coordinator so the travel plan and visa dates are checked together.
Timing
Apply between 120 and 4 days before you land.
Applications for e-Medical and e-Medical Attendant visas open 120 days before the arrival date you choose and close 4 days before it. The fee has to be paid inside the same limit.
- 120 days before arrivalEarliest day to apply
- 4 days before arrivalLast day to apply and pay
- 72 hours beforee-Arrival card opens
- ArrivalBiometrics and visa stamp
The portal’s example: an application made on 1 September can choose an arrival date from 5 September to 2 January.
Fees
What you pay, and where.
One payment, made online on the official portal, for each traveller. Nothing is due at the airport.
Set by nationality
The fee depends on the passport you hold. The official table lists every eligible country, and some nationalities pay nothing.
Attendants pay the same
In that table, each e-Medical Attendant fee equals the e-Medical fee for the same nationality.
A bank charge on top
The portal adds a 3% bank transaction charge to card payments; one of its payment partners lists 4% for PayPal. The exact charge shows on the payment page.
Not refundable
The fee pays for processing, so it is kept whether the ETA is granted or refused, and if you cancel the trip.
No express service exists
The government states it makes no provision for emergency or express e-Visa fees, and no intermediary is needed.
Entering and leaving
At the border, both ways.
An e-Visa is an electronic travel authorisation until an immigration officer stamps it. These are the portal’s conditions around that moment.
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Designated entry points only
The portal lists the airports, seaports and land ports where e-Visa holders may enter. The airports include Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Ahmedabad. Check the current list against your route.
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Leave from any check post
Departure is allowed through any authorised immigration check post in India, so you can fly home from a different city than the one you landed in.
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Yellow fever certificate
Arriving within six days of leaving a yellow-fever endemic country? Carry your original vaccination certificate, or you may be quarantined for six days.
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Protected and restricted areas
An e-Visa does not cover protected, restricted or cantonment areas. Visiting one needs separate prior permission from the civil authority.
If treatment runs longer
e-FRRO, India’s online visa office.
Registration, extensions, conversions and exit permits for foreigners in India all go through e-FRRO, the government’s online service for Foreigners Regional Registration Offices.
The e-Visa portal states that e-Visas are non-extendable and non-convertible. If your treating team expects treatment to run past your visa, ask the hospital’s international desk early for the documents an FRRO request would need, and apply well before the visa ends. Whether more time is granted is the FRRO’s decision alone.
Go to the e-FRRO portal (opens in a new tab)- Register with your own email address and a valid Indian mobile number, which receives the one-time passwords and status alerts.
- Fill in the form, upload documents and photo, then pay any fee online when the portal asks for it.
- The portal advises applying at least two weeks in advance, and the FRRO may call you for an interview.
- Family members can be added from one login, each with their own form.
- Registration is required when a continuous stay, or the total in a calendar year, passes 180 days.
- Overstaying is penalised. For most nationalities the portal’s table starts at ₹10,000 for up to 30 days and reaches ₹1,00,000 for 181 days to a year.
- In a genuine emergency, the FRRO office can be approached in person.
Not eligible for an e-Visa?
The regular Medical visa, through a mission.
Travellers who cannot use the e-Visa apply for a regular Medical visa through the Indian mission for their country: the form is filled in online, then submitted with documents at the mission or its visa centre. Requirements differ from mission to mission, so follow your own mission’s page.
One mission’s published rules
Consulate General of India, Dubai (opens in a new tab), page updated 5 May 2026:
- Initial validity of six months or the period of treatment, extendable in India with supporting medical documents
- Medical Attendant visas for the patient’s spouse, children or blood relatives, valid for as long as the patient’s visa
- A referral from a doctor at home and a letter from the hospital in India showing an appointment or willingness to treat
- Registration with the FRRO within 14 days of arrival when the stay will exceed 180 days
Avoidable delays
Six ways applications go wrong.
Each comes from the portal’s own instructions, and each is easy to prevent with ten minutes of checking.
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Look-alike websites
The portal states that indianvisaonline.gov.in is the only official site for e-Visas. Others add fees and collect your passport data.
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Details that do not match
Names, dates of birth and passport numbers must match across the form, the hospital letter and tickets. The applicant answers for any discrepancy.
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Unclear photos or scans
Applications can be rejected when the photo or uploads are unclear or outside the size and format rules.
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Papers not in English
The portal warns that documents in other languages make an application liable for rejection, so ask for the hospital letter in English.
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Paying too late
An application whose fee is paid less than four days before travel is not processed. Pay as soon as the form is complete.
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A renewed passport
Travel on the passport you applied with. If it was renewed after the ETA was issued, carry the old passport as well as the new one.
Where we fit
We prepare. You apply.
- A checklist for each traveller, from the portal’s current rules
- Timing the hospital letter request with your dates
- Checking photos and scans against size and format limits
- Reminders for ETA printouts and the e-Arrival card
- Filling in or submitting your application for you
- Charging “express” fees, which do not exist
- Advising on refusals or past overstays
Visa FAQ
e-Medical visas, specific answers.
How many family members can come on attendant e-Visas?
Two. The official portal states that only two e-Medical Attendant visas are granted against one e-Medical visa. Anyone else in the family needs a visa that fits their own purpose of travel.
Is the e-Medical visa valid for 60 days or for a year?
At the time of checking, the portal said both. Its visa-type summary lists one year (365 days) from the date of arrival with multiple entries, while its FAQ says 60 days from first arrival. Plan around the validity printed on your ETA and stamped at immigration.
Does an attendant need a letter from the hospital?
Not according to the portal’s document list, which asks attendants for the passport bio page alongside their photo. The hospital letter is required for the patient’s e-Medical application.
How early can we apply, and how late is too late?
The window opens 120 days before your arrival date and closes 4 days before it. The portal’s own example: applying on 1 September allows arrival dates from 5 September to 2 January.
Can an e-Medical visa be extended in India?
The e-Visa portal describes e-Visas as non-extendable and non-convertible. Requests to stay longer are made through the e-FRRO portal and decided by the FRRO, so raise a longer stay with the hospital and your coordinator early.
Is there an express or emergency e-Medical visa?
No. The Government of India says it charges no emergency or express fee for any e-Visa. Treat any offer of faster processing for extra money as a warning sign.
Do children need their own e-Visa?
Yes. Every traveller needs their own passport and their own application; the portal does not accept people endorsed on a parent’s passport. A child’s passport should be valid for at least six months from arrival.
What is the e-Arrival card, and is it a visa?
It is an online arrival form for foreigners and OCI cardholders, filed within 72 hours before arriving in India on the Bureau of Immigration site, the e-Visa portal or the official app. The portal is clear that it records arrival information and is not a visa.
Visas for the whole party
One patient, two attendants, one checklist each.
Tell us who is travelling and from where. Your coordinator sends a document list for every person before anyone applies.