Greek passport holders can apply for the Indian eVisa entirely online — no appointment at the Embassy of India in Athens, 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
Greek travel to India has grown steadily, weighted towards cultural and spiritual itineraries — Rajasthan, Varanasi, Rishikesh and Kerala. There is also a distinctive business dimension: Greece controls one of the world's largest merchant fleets, and the relationship with India runs deep through crewing, ship management and the ship-recycling yards of Alang in Gujarat.
Every Greek 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.
Greek passport holders receive up to 90 days per visit on the tourist eVisa, and the five-year multiple-entry version is available. For shipping professionals making repeated trips to Mumbai, Chennai or Gujarat, the multi-year business eVisa is the sensible instrument.
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. Greek citizens must hold an approved visa before boarding, and because Greek routings involve a connection, the check often happens at Athens.
Choose the category by purpose. Tourism, sightseeing, visiting friends, and yoga or meditation retreats fall under the tourist eVisa. Meetings, trade fairs, supplier audits, crewing discussions and yard inspections 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 Athens.
A point specific to the shipping sector: joining or leaving a vessel in an Indian port is not covered by a tourist or business eVisa. It involves seafarer documentation and, depending on circumstances, a different visa category. Confirm this with your agent before travelling — it cannot be resolved at the port.
Stay & validity
Greek 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.
Applying too early wastes validity: booking in March for a November trip and applying immediately spends eight months of a one-year eVisa before departure. Apply two to three weeks before you fly.
The business eVisa allows up to 180 days per visit within a one-year multiple-entry window — double the tourist allowance, and the right instrument for extended yard or project work in Gujarat, Mumbai or Chennai.
The eVisa cannot be extended or converted from inside India, and it is valid only at designated airports and authorised seaports. The medical eVisa gives 60 days from first entry with triple entry.
Pricing
Live government fees and service charges for Greek passport holders, shown all-in — nothing further is charged later.
Your nationality is pre-selected as Greece
Requirements
Everything Greek 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. Gujarat's regional holidays around Diwali affect Alang and the wider industrial belt.
Apply at least ten days before departure. Greek itineraries always involve a connection, sometimes across separate tickets, so a late visa problem is more awkward to fix than for a nonstop traveller. For recurring business travel, a five-year multiple-entry business eVisa removes the pressure.
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 consistent nonstop service between Greece and India, so every routing involves at least one connection. Total journey times run 10 to 16 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 classic circuits. For Greek travellers the Orthodox Easter break in April or May falls at the hot end of the season — workable in the south and the hills, uncomfortable in Rajasthan.
The Greek August holiday sits in the monsoon. Rajasthan and the Golden Triangle are a poor choice then, but Ladakh and the Spiti Valley are at their best, and Kerala's monsoon is the traditional Ayurveda season. Redirect the itinerary rather than cancelling the trip.
For shipping and industrial travel to Gujarat, avoid May and June — Ahmedabad and the Saurashtra coast regularly exceed 43°C and outdoor yard work is genuinely difficult. November to February is far more workable. India is 2.5 to 3.5 hours ahead of Greek 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 Greece — we check for every one of them before submitting.
The defining Greek-specific problem. Greek names have multiple valid Latin transliterations — Ioannis or Yiannis or John, Dimitrios or Demetrios, Georgios or Yorgos, Papadopoulos or Papadopulos. Your passport uses one specific form, and the eVisa must match it exactly, as must your airline ticket. Using a familiar or anglicised version instead creates a mismatch Indian immigration will query.
Many Greek surnames change with gender — Papadopoulos and Papadopoulou, Karagiannis and Karagianni. Your passport shows one specific form. Do not use a husband's or father's ending; use exactly what is printed on your own travel document.
Important given Greece's maritime sector. Joining or leaving a ship in an Indian port is not tourism or business visiting — it involves seafarer documentation and possibly a different visa category. Confirm with your agent before booking, because it cannot be fixed at the port.
Greek citizens receive 90 days per visit on the tourist eVisa, not the 180 days granted to American, British, Canadian and Japanese nationals. The business eVisa does give 180 days per visit, which is often the answer for extended project stays.
Inspecting vessels, auditing suppliers or attending crewing discussions is commercial activity requiring the business eVisa — which is more generous anyway at 180 days per visit against 90.
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 Athens 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 Greece — including the substantial Indian seafaring community employed on Greek-managed vessels.
FAQs
The questions Greek 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.
Exactly the romanisation printed on your current passport, character for character. Greek names have several valid Latin forms — Ioannis, Yiannis and John are all the same name — and only the passport version is correct for the visa. Note too that many Greek surnames are gendered, so use your own printed form rather than a spouse's. Make sure your airline ticket matches.
No. Signing on or off a vessel in India is not tourism or business visiting — it involves seafarer documentation and, depending on circumstances, a different visa category. Confirm the requirements with your shipping agent well before travel, because this cannot be resolved at the port.
Fees are set by nationality and duration, so the pricing panel on this page loads live figures for Greek 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 consistent nonstop service. 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 10 to 16 hours. For Gujarat, fly into Ahmedabad via a Gulf hub.
The business eVisa. Inspections, audits, technical discussions and crewing meetings are commercial activities the tourist eVisa does not cover. You will need an invitation letter from the Indian entity on its letterhead. It also permits 180 days per visit against the tourist visa's 90.
No. Indian Visa on Arrival is limited to Japanese, South Korean and Emirati nationals. Greek citizens need an approved visa before boarding, and because every routing starts with a connection, your airline may check it at Athens.
May and June, when Ahmedabad and the Saurashtra coast regularly exceed 43°C and outdoor industrial work becomes genuinely difficult. Also avoid the Diwali period, when Gujarat's trade and industry close for several days. November to February is the most workable window.
Your nationality is already set to Greece. 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.
