French passport holders can apply for the Indian eVisa entirely online — no appointment at the Embassy of India in Paris, 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
France is one of India's largest European visitor markets, and the travel pattern is distinctive: long trips, often three to four weeks, weighted towards Rajasthan, Kerala and the former French territory of Pondicherry. The two countries also have a substantial strategic and industrial relationship, so business travel to Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai runs steadily alongside the tourism.
Every French 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 visit to the embassy.
French passport holders receive up to 90 days per visit on the tourist eVisa, and the five-year multiple-entry version is available. Ninety days accommodates the long French itinerary comfortably — including the full five-week congé pattern — with room to spare.
At a glance
Eligibility
Yes. India grants visa-free entry only to Nepal and Bhutan, and Visa on Arrival only to Japanese, South Korean and Emirati nationals. French citizens must hold an approved visa before boarding, and Air France or Air India will verify it at the gate at Charles de Gaulle.
Choose the category by purpose. Tourism, sightseeing, visiting friends, and yoga or wellness retreats fall under the tourist eVisa. Business meetings, trade fairs, supplier visits and technical discussions require the business eVisa. Treatment at an Indian hospital 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 Paris.
Note that residents of France who are not French citizens — including holders of a titre de séjour — apply on the nationality of their passport, with that country's fees and entitlements, not France's.
Stay & validity
French citizens are permitted up to 90 days per visit on the tourist eVisa. The 30-day version allows double entry, with the 30 days counted from your arrival date. The one-year and five-year versions are multiple-entry, and their validity runs from the date the Indian government grants the application rather than the date you arrive.
The grant-date rule deserves attention given how far ahead French travellers typically book. Applying in March for a November trip consumes eight months of a one-year eVisa before you leave. For a one-year visa, apply two to three weeks before departure.
Ninety days is generous enough for the extended itineraries French travellers favour — a month in Rajasthan followed by a month in Kerala and Pondicherry fits easily. The eVisa cannot be extended from inside India, so anything beyond 90 days per visit requires a regular visa.
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 French passport holders, shown all-in — nothing further is charged later.
Your nationality is pre-selected as France
Requirements
Everything French 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 figures, and Indian public holidays — frequent and often regional — will extend them.
Apply at least a week before you fly, ideally two. The margin exists so that a rejected photograph can be replaced without paying twice for express handling. Applications open 120 days before travel, but on one-year and five-year visas that is far too early: you would be spending validity you have paid for. Two to three weeks out is the sensible target.
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
Paris Charles de Gaulle has nonstop service to three Indian cities with Air France and Air India, and all are designated eVisa ports. From the regions you will connect via Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt or a Gulf hub — none of which affects your eVisa, since it is checked on arrival in India.
Best time to go
October to March is India's dry season and the best window for the classic French itinerary. The Toussaint holidays in late October and the February vacances scolaires both fall inside it, as does the Christmas peak. February and March are particularly good: warm, clear, and quieter than the December weeks.
The French summer break in July and August coincides with the monsoon. Rajasthan and the Golden Triangle are a poor choice then, but Ladakh and the Spiti Valley are at their absolute best, and the Kerala monsoon is the traditional Ayurveda season. If August is fixed for you, change the destination rather than the dates.
Avoid the northern plains in May and June, when temperatures exceed 45°C. India is 3.5 to 4.5 hours ahead of French time depending on the season, so jet lag on an 8- to 9-hour nonstop from Paris is manageable — most travellers are functional the following morning.
Avoid these
Refusals are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the problems that come up most often on applications from France — we check for every one of them before submitting.
The defining French-specific problem. French passports may show a birth name and a married or used name, and travellers frequently enter the nom d'usage on the visa while the machine-readable zone carries the nom de naissance. Indian immigration compares the eVisa against the passport, so use the name exactly as it appears on the printed data page — and make sure your airline booking matches it too.
Your passport's machine-readable zone strips accents: Benoît becomes BENOIT, Müller becomes MULLER, and ç becomes C. Match the printed name line on the data page and keep it consistent across visa, passport and ticket. Three different spellings of one name is what causes questions at check-in.
French citizens receive 90 days per visit, not the 180 days granted to American, British, Canadian and Japanese nationals. Much of the English-language guidance is written for those markets. Given the length of typical French itineraries and the fact the eVisa cannot be extended, this is worth checking before you book.
Eligibility follows citizenship, not residence. A titre de séjour holder applies on their passport nationality, with that country's fees and stay limits. Selecting France because you live there produces an application that does not match your travel document.
The eVisa is valid only at designated airports and authorised seaports. French travellers combining India with Nepal — a common pairing — cannot use an eVisa to re-enter by land. That needs a regular visa from the embassy in Paris, arranged before departure.
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 Paris plays no part in an eVisa application, which is handled entirely online — significant given that it is the only Indian mission in mainland France. It deals with what the eVisa cannot cover: employment, journalism, research and long-term student visas, OCI cards and Surrender Certificates, and consular services for Indian nationals in France.
FAQs
The questions French 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.
Use the name exactly as printed on the passport data page, and specifically the form that the machine-readable zone reflects — normally the nom de naissance. Indian immigration compares your eVisa against your passport, not against your everyday usage. Make sure your airline booking carries the same version, because a mismatch across three documents is what causes problems at check-in.
Fees depend on nationality and duration, so the pricing panel on this page loads live figures for French 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. The eVisa is applied for and issued entirely online, your passport stays with you and there is no appointment to book. With Paris being the only Indian mission in mainland France, this saves a trip to the capital for applicants in Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse or Bordeaux.
Paris Charles de Gaulle serves Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru nonstop with Air France and Air India. From Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Toulouse or Bordeaux you will connect — via Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Istanbul or a Gulf hub. For Kerala, a Gulf routing into Kochi or Thiruvananthapuram is often quicker than connecting inside India.
Fly to Chennai, which is a designated eVisa airport, and continue by road — roughly three hours. There is no international service into Pondicherry itself. A standard tourist eVisa covers the trip; the former French connection has no bearing on visa requirements, and no special permit is needed.
No. Indian Visa on Arrival is limited to Japanese, South Korean and Emirati nationals. French citizens need an approved visa before boarding, and Air France or your carrier will verify it at the gate.
No. The eVisa cannot be extended or converted from inside India. For the long trips French travellers often plan, 90 days per visit is usually sufficient — but if you genuinely need longer, either split the trip across two entries on a multiple-entry visa or apply for a regular visa at the embassy in Paris before you leave.
Your nationality is already set to France. 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.
