India
Visa & Immigration
Last verified August 15, 2026
Written for U.S. passport holders
No Visa-Free or Visa-on-Arrival Entry
- India doesn't offer visa-free entry or a traditional visa-on-arrival for U.S. citizens; a visa (typically the e-Tourist Visa applied for online in advance) is required before you travel.
- The e-Tourist Visa comes in three tiers: 30-day (multiple entry, non-extendable, non-convertible), 1-year, and 5-year, both of the latter two allowing multiple entries.
A Real Advantage for U.S. Passport Holders
- On the 1-year and 5-year e-Tourist Visa, the standard maximum continuous stay per visit is 90 days for most nationalities, but nationals of the U.S., UK, Canada, and Japan specifically get an extended 180-day continuous stay per visit.
If You Stay Past 180 Days
- If you're holding a multiple-entry visa and intend to stay continuously for more than 180 days, you're required to register with the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) within 14 days of your first arrival on that visa.
- Registration is handled online through the e-FRRO portal; it only applies to your first visit after getting the visa, not to every subsequent trip on the same visa.
The Gotcha
India is one of the few countries on this site where U.S. citizens get a meaningfully better deal than most other nationalities: the 180-day continuous-stay allowance on the long-validity e-Tourist Visa (versus the standard 90 days) is a real, named carve-out for U.S. passport holders specifically, not a generic rule. Just don't let that 180-day advantage distract you from the FRRO registration requirement, which is triggered the moment you intend to stay continuously past 180 days and must be handled within 14 days of your arrival, not whenever you eventually hit day 180.
Sources
This page was drafted from the primary sources below. Rules change, so check the linked page directly before relying on any of this.
- e-Visa (Tourist Visa on Arrival) Information (Bureau of Immigration, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India)
- Foreigners Registration (Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India)