Croatian passport holders can apply for the Indian eVisa entirely online — no appointment at the Embassy of India in Zagreb, 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
Croatia is a small outbound market with a distinctly well-travelled population, and its India trips tend to be ambitious: multi-region itineraries combining North India with Kerala or Goa, often three to four weeks long. There is also a maritime dimension — Croatia has a long seafaring tradition and Croatian officers are common on internationally managed vessels, which brings its own set of visa questions.
Every Croatian citizen needs a visa granted before departure. There is no visa-free entry and no visa on arrival. For tourism, business and medical travel the eVisa handles it entirely online: an electronic authorisation issued by the Government of India, linked to your passport number, with no stamp and no consular appointment.
Croatian passport holders receive up to 90 days per visit on the tourist eVisa, and the five-year multiple-entry version is available. Ninety days comfortably covers even the longer multi-region trips this market plans.
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. Croatian citizens must hold an approved visa before boarding, and because Croatian routings involve a connection, the check often happens at Zagreb.
Choose the category by purpose. Tourism, sightseeing, visiting friends and wellness travel fall under the tourist eVisa. Meetings, trade fairs, supplier audits and technical discussions require the business eVisa. Hospital treatment requires the medical eVisa. Employment, journalism, academic research and long-term study are outside the eVisa scheme and need a regular visa from the embassy in Zagreb.
A point relevant to Croatia's seafaring community: joining or leaving a vessel in an Indian port is not covered by a tourist or business eVisa. It involves seafarer documentation and possibly a different visa category — confirm with your agent before travelling, because it cannot be resolved at the port.
Stay & validity
Croatian 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 rather than the date you land.
Applying too early wastes validity, which matters given how far ahead Croatian travellers tend to plan. Booking in March for a November trip and applying immediately spends eight months of a one-year eVisa. Apply two to three weeks before departure.
The eVisa cannot be extended or converted from inside India, and it is valid only at designated airports and authorised seaports — no land crossing from Nepal.
The business eVisa allows up to 180 days per visit within a one-year multiple-entry window. The medical eVisa gives 60 days from first entry with triple entry.
Pricing
Live government fees and service charges for Croatian passport holders, shown all-in — nothing further is charged later.
Your nationality is pre-selected as Croatia
Requirements
Everything Croatian 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 ten days before departure. Croatian itineraries always involve a connection, sometimes across separate tickets, so a visa problem discovered late is more awkward to fix than for a nonstop traveller.
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 Croatia and India, so every routing involves at least one connection. Total journey times run 11 to 17 hours. Your eVisa is checked at your Indian arrival airport rather than in transit.
Best time to go
October to March is India's dry season and the best window for the multi-region itineraries this market favours. The Christmas and New Year weeks are the fare peak; February and March offer the same weather at better prices.
The Croatian summer is peak season at home, which means Croatian travellers often take long-haul trips in the shoulder months instead — a genuine advantage here, since October, November, February and March are among the best months in India and the cheapest to fly.
If you do travel in July or August, the monsoon rules out Rajasthan but makes Ladakh and the Spiti Valley excellent. Avoid the northern plains in May and June, when temperatures exceed 45°C. India is 3.5 to 4.5 hours ahead of Croatian time depending on the season.
Avoid these
Refusals are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the problems that come up most often on applications from Croatia — we check for every one of them before submitting.
The defining Croatian-specific problem, and đ is the worst of it — your passport's machine-readable zone may render it as D or DJ, so Đurić becomes DURIC or DJURIC. Similarly Č and Ć both become C. Match the printed name line on the data page exactly and keep your airline booking consistent with it.
Relevant given Croatia's seafaring tradition. Joining or leaving a ship in an Indian port involves seafarer documentation and possibly a different visa category — it is not tourism or business visiting. Confirm with your agent before booking; it cannot be fixed at the port.
Croatian citizens receive 90 days per visit, not the 180 days granted to American, British, Canadian and Japanese nationals. Since Croatian trips are often three to four weeks or longer and the eVisa cannot be extended, confirm this before booking.
On one-year and five-year visas, validity runs from the grant date rather than arrival. Croatian travellers plan well ahead, so applying at the same time as booking can consume most of the visa before departure.
The eVisa is valid only at designated airports and authorised seaports. Any overland entry needs a regular visa from the embassy in Zagreb, arranged before you leave Croatia.
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
The embassy in Zagreb is not involved in eVisa applications, which are handled entirely online. It covers what the eVisa cannot: employment, journalism, research and long-term student visas, seafarer and crew matters, OCI cards, and consular services for Indian nationals in Croatia.
FAQs
The questions Croatian passport holders ask most often about applying for an Indian eVisa.
Up to 90 days per visit on the tourist eVisa. The 30-day version allows 30 days with double entry; the one-year and five-year versions are multiple-entry with a 90-day cap per visit. The business eVisa permits up to 180 days per visit within a one-year window, and the medical eVisa 60 days from first entry with triple entry.
Match the printed name line on your passport data page. The machine-readable zone renders đ as D or DJ, č and ć as C, š as S and ž as Z — so Đurić may appear as DURIC or DJURIC. The đ is the one that causes most trouble, so check your passport rather than assuming. Then make sure your airline booking uses the same version.
Fees are set by nationality and duration, so the pricing panel on this page loads live figures for Croatian 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. Every routing involves at least one connection — most commonly Istanbul, which often gives the shortest total time, or Doha, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Total journey time is 11 to 17 hours. From northern Croatia, Vienna is within reach by road or rail and has nonstop Austrian Airlines service to Delhi.
No. Signing on or off a vessel in India involves seafarer documentation and, depending on circumstances, a different visa category — it is not tourism or business visiting. Confirm the requirements with your shipping agent well before travel, because this cannot be resolved at the port.
October, November, February and March are ideal — excellent weather in India and the cheapest months to fly. They also fall outside the Croatian summer, which is peak season at home, so they tend to suit Croatian schedules well. Avoid the northern plains in May and June, when temperatures exceed 45°C.
No. Indian Visa on Arrival is limited to Japanese, South Korean and Emirati nationals. Croatian citizens need an approved visa before boarding, and because every routing starts with a connection, your airline may check it at Zagreb.
No. The eVisa cannot be extended or converted from inside India. If your itinerary needs longer than 90 days per visit, either split it across two entries on a multiple-entry visa — leaving India by air and returning — or apply for a regular visa through the embassy in Zagreb before you travel.
Your nationality is already set to Croatia. 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.
