Cape Verdean passport holders can apply for the Indian eVisa entirely online — no consular appointment, no courier, no passport handed over. Approval typically arrives by email in 24 to 72 hours.
90 days
Maximum stay per visit
24–72 hrs
Typical processing time
Up to 5 years
Longest validity offered
Not eligible
Visa on Arrival
100% online
No embassy visit
Overview
Cape Verde is an Atlantic island nation with strong ties to Portugal and a large diaspora across Europe and the United States, and its travel patterns follow those links. India is a long-haul destination reached through Lisbon, Dakar or Casablanca, and journeys to it are mostly for medical treatment, education and trade.
Unlike its mainland West African neighbours, Cape Verde is not a yellow-fever endemic country, so the vaccination certificate requirement that dominates travel from the region does not normally apply — though it can if you have transited an endemic country en route. That is worth checking against your specific routing.
Every Cape Verdean citizen needs a visa granted before departure. There is no visa-free entry and no visa on arrival. The eVisa is an electronic authorisation issued by the Government of India, linked to your passport number, with no stamp and no appointment. Cape Verdean passport holders receive up to 90 days per visit on the tourist eVisa.
At a glance
Eligibility
Yes. India extends visa-free entry only to Nepal and Bhutan, and Visa on Arrival only to Japanese, South Korean and Emirati nationals. Cape Verdean citizens must hold an approved visa before boarding, and because every routing involves at least one connection, the check often happens at Praia or Sal.
Choose the category by purpose. Treatment at an Indian hospital requires the medical eVisa, which allows accompanying family to travel as medical attendants. Business meetings, trade fairs and sourcing trips require the business eVisa. Tourism and visiting friends fall under the tourist eVisa. Employment, journalism, academic research and long-term study are outside the eVisa scheme and need a regular visa from an Indian mission.
One routing-specific point: although Cape Verde is not itself a yellow-fever endemic country, India applies the certificate requirement based on countries you have transited as well as your origin. If your routing takes you through Dakar, Accra or another endemic country with a stopover, check whether the requirement is triggered.
Stay & validity
Cape Verdean citizens are permitted up to 90 days per visit on the tourist eVisa. The 30-day version allows double entry, with its 30 days counted from your arrival date. The one-year and five-year versions are multiple-entry, and their validity begins on the date the Indian government grants the application.
For medical travel the medical eVisa is the better instrument: 60 days from first entry with triple entry, structured around treatment plus follow-up consultations, with medical attendant visas available for accompanying family.
Given the journey involved, a 90-day allowance is generous, and the multi-year multiple-entry versions suit anyone travelling for staged medical treatment.
The business eVisa allows up to 180 days per visit within a one-year multiple-entry window. The eVisa cannot be extended or converted from inside India.
Pricing
Live government fees and service charges for Cape Verdean passport holders, shown all-in — nothing further is charged later.
Your nationality is pre-selected as Cape Verde
Requirements
Everything Cape Verdean passport holders need before starting an application. The first five items apply to every applicant; the rest are specific to your nationality or visa type.
Passport bio-data page — a clear colour scan or photo showing your photograph, full name, date of birth, passport number and expiry date
Recent passport-style photograph — square format, plain white background, full face visible, no shadows and no headwear other than for religious reasons
A valid credit or debit card to pay the government fee and service charge
Your return or onward ticket details, or at minimum your intended departure date
The address where you will be staying for your first night in India
Simple process
Four steps, entirely online, with our team checking every field before anything reaches the Indian authorities.
Enter your passport details exactly as printed, choose your visa type and duration, and upload your photo and passport data page.
Our team checks your photo dimensions, passport scan clarity, name spelling and date formats before anything is submitted.
Your application goes to the Government of India on your behalf, and we keep you posted at every status change.
Print it or keep it on your phone, and we explain exactly how to present it at your port of entry in India.
Standard processing takes 48 to 72 hours and express handling 24 to 48 hours. Both are business-day estimates, and Indian public holidays — numerous and often state-specific — extend them.
Apply at least two weeks before departure. Cape Verdean routings involve at least one connection and often two, frequently on separate tickets, so a visa problem discovered late is more disruptive than for most travellers. For medical travel, request the hospital letter as soon as your appointment is confirmed.
Separate from your eVisa, every foreign national entering India must complete the digital e-Arrival Card before boarding. It replaces the old paper disembarkation form and is required on every single visit, whatever visa you hold.
Getting there
There is no nonstop service between Cape Verde and India. Every routing involves at least one connection, most commonly through Lisbon, Dakar or Casablanca, with total journey times of 18 to 26 hours.
Best time to go
October to March is India's dry season and the most comfortable window for both leisure travel and medical treatment. Recovery in extreme heat is genuinely harder, so if treatment dates are flexible the cooler months are worth choosing.
For medical travel the Indian hospital calendar matters as much as the weather. Diwali and Holi affect staffing and elective scheduling at private hospitals. Confirm dates directly with the hospital.
Avoid the northern plains in May and June, when temperatures exceed 45°C — a substantial adjustment from Cape Verde's temperate Atlantic climate. India is 6.5 hours ahead of Cape Verdean time.
Avoid these
Refusals are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the problems that come up most often on applications from Cape Verde — we check for every one of them before submitting.
Cape Verde is not a yellow-fever endemic country, so the certificate is not normally required — but India applies the requirement based on countries transited as well as origin. A routing with a stopover in Dakar, Accra or another endemic country can trigger it. Check against your specific itinerary rather than assuming, because without a valid certificate you can be quarantined on arrival for up to six days.
Cape Verdean names follow the Portuguese pattern and often carry two or more surnames. All of them belong on the application, in the printed order, exactly as the passport shows. Using the shortened form you use day to day creates a mismatch.
Every Cape Verde–India routing involves at least one connection and usually two, with total journey times of 18 to 26 hours and limited redundancy on the island routes. Build in real margin, particularly for a fixed hospital appointment.
The medical eVisa allows triple entry for follow-up consultations and lets accompanying family apply as medical attendants. Indian hospitals increasingly ask which visa you hold.
Study at an Indian university requires a student visa arranged through an Indian mission before travel, and an eVisa cannot be converted into one once you are in India.
Photo rejected on technical grounds
By far the most common cause of delay. The photograph must be square, on a plain white background, with your full face visible and no shadow behind your head. Cropped selfies and phone photos taken against a cream wall are routinely bounced back.
Passport scan unreadable
Glare across the machine-readable zone, a cut-off corner, or a scan where the passport number is blurred will stall the application. Photograph the page flat, in daylight, with no flash.
Applying too close to departure
The eVisa must be granted before you fly, and airlines check it at the gate. Applications submitted the night before a flight leave no room for a document re-upload.
Conditions
These conditions are set by the Government of India and do not vary by nationality. They are worth reading before you book, because two of them — the port-of-entry rule and the restricted-areas rule — catch out a lot of otherwise well-planned trips.
Validity is measured from your date of arrival in India, not from the date you apply. You also need at least two blank pages for immigration stamps.
The India eVisa is accepted at India's designated eVisa airports and authorised seaports. It cannot be used to cross a land border, so overland arrivals from Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh or Pakistan need a different visa.
Every person travelling needs their own eVisa and their own passport, including infants and children. Children cannot be added to a parent's application.
An eVisa does not grant access to Protected Areas, Restricted Areas or Cantonment Areas. Parts of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Sikkim, Ladakh, the Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep require a Protected Area Permit or Restricted Area Permit in addition to your visa.
You cannot extend an eVisa from inside India or convert it into another visa category. If your plans change, you must leave and apply again.
Diplomatic, official and service passports are not eligible for the eVisa route, and neither are international travel documents or refugee travel documents.
Consular services
Cape Verde is served under concurrent accreditation by an Indian mission in the region rather than by a resident post. That has no bearing on your eVisa, which is entirely online — and it is precisely why the eVisa is the practical route. But confirm coverage if you need a student, employment or research visa, or a regular medical visa, and allow considerably more time.
FAQs
The questions Cape Verdean passport holders ask most often about applying for an Indian eVisa.
Not normally — Cape Verde is not a yellow-fever endemic country. But India applies the requirement based on countries you have transited as well as your origin, so a routing with a stopover in Dakar, Accra or another endemic country can trigger it. Check against your specific itinerary, because without a valid certificate you can be quarantined on arrival for up to six days. A Lisbon routing avoids the question entirely.
Up to 90 days per visit on the tourist eVisa. The 30-day version allows 30 days with double entry. The medical eVisa gives 60 days from first entry with triple entry, and the business eVisa up to 180 days per visit within a one-year multiple-entry window.
All of them, exactly as printed on your passport and in the printed order. Cape Verdean names follow the Portuguese pattern and often carry two or more surnames, and Indian immigration compares the eVisa against the passport character by character. Do not shorten, merge or reorder them.
Every routing involves at least one connection and usually two, with total journey times of 18 to 26 hours. Lisbon has the widest onward choice and avoids transiting a yellow-fever endemic country. Dakar is closer but connects onward via Addis Ababa or Dubai. Build in real margin for a fixed appointment.
The medical eVisa. It allows 60 days from first entry with triple entry — designed around treatment plus follow-up consultations — and accompanying family members can apply for medical attendant visas linked to your application. You will need a letter from the treating hospital, which must be on India's recognised list.
Cape Verde is served under concurrent accreditation by an Indian mission in the region rather than by a resident post. That has no bearing on your eVisa, which is entirely online — and it is exactly why the eVisa is the practical route. But confirm coverage if you need a student, employment or research visa, and allow considerably more time.
Fees are set by nationality and duration, so the pricing panel on this page loads live figures for Cape Verdean passport holders across all available options. You can compare 30-day, one-year and five-year prices side by side, and the amount shown is the full cost including our service fee.
No. Indian Visa on Arrival is limited to Japanese, South Korean and Emirati nationals. Cape Verdean citizens need an approved visa before boarding, and because every routing involves connections, your airline may check it at Praia or Sal.
Your nationality is already set to Cape Verde. Complete the form in under ten minutes, and our team will check every detail before it reaches the Indian authorities.
Other nationalities
Stay limits, fees and requirements differ by passport. Here are the guides for other nationalities.
