Mongolian passport holders can apply for the Indian eVisa entirely online — no appointment at the Embassy of India in Ulaanbaatar, 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
Important for Mongolian citizens
Mongolians traditionally have no family surname — most people use a given name plus a patronymic, and passports reflect that. Indian visa forms expect a surname, so read the naming section below before you apply. This is the most common source of mismatch for Mongolian applicants.
Overview
Mongolia's connection to India runs through Buddhism. Mongolian Buddhism follows the Tibetan tradition, and India — home to Bodh Gaya, Sarnath, Dharamshala and the major Tibetan monastic institutions in exile — is the spiritual heartland. India has actively cultivated this relationship, and pilgrimage and monastic study are the largest streams of Mongolian travel.
Alongside pilgrimage sits a mining and minerals business relationship and a growing medical travel flow. There is no nonstop service, so travellers connect through Seoul, Beijing, Istanbul or a Gulf hub.
Every Mongolian 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. Mongolian 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. Mongolian citizens must hold an approved visa before boarding, and because every routing involves a connection, the check often happens at Ulaanbaatar.
Choose the category by purpose. Pilgrimage, tourism, sightseeing and visiting friends fall under the tourist eVisa — religious pilgrimage is tourism for these purposes, which covers Bodh Gaya, Sarnath and visits to Dharamshala. Treatment at an Indian hospital requires the medical eVisa. Meetings, trade fairs and mining-sector business require the business eVisa. Employment, journalism, academic research and long-term study are outside the eVisa scheme and need a regular visa from an Indian mission.
One point specific to Mongolia: extended monastic study or formal enrolment at a Buddhist institution in India is study, not pilgrimage, and requires a student visa. Short pilgrimage visits and teachings are covered by the tourist eVisa; residence at a monastery for a course of study is not.
Stay & validity
Mongolian 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 — usually sufficient for a pilgrimage circuit.
The one-year and five-year versions are multiple-entry, with validity starting on the date the Indian government grants the application. For pilgrims who return regularly — a common pattern, particularly around major teachings — the multi-year visa is much better value than repeat applications.
For monastic study, note that the eVisa cannot be extended or converted from inside India. If you intend to remain at an Indian monastery beyond 90 days, that must be arranged as a student visa through an Indian mission before you travel.
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 Mongolian passport holders, shown all-in — nothing further is charged later.
Your nationality is pre-selected as Mongolia
Requirements
Everything Mongolian 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. Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the heart of the Buddhist circuit, have their own regional holidays.
Apply at least ten days before departure. For group pilgrimage travel, start two to three weeks ahead: every member needs an individual application with their own photograph and passport scan, and in any large group at least one will need replacing.
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 Mongolia and India. Every routing involves at least one connection, most commonly through Seoul, Beijing, Istanbul or a Gulf hub. Total journey times run 12 to 20 hours.
Best time to go
November to February is the Buddhist pilgrimage season and by far the best time for the circuit. Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are cool and dry, and the long road transfers between Bodh Gaya, Rajgir, Nalanda and Sarnath are manageable. Major teachings at Bodh Gaya often fall in this window and draw pilgrims from across the Buddhist world.
Dharamshala has a different rhythm — it is at its best from March to June and September to November, and winter there is cold, though nothing a Mongolian traveller would find difficult.
Avoid Bihar in May and June, when temperatures regularly exceed 45°C. Coming from Mongolia's continental climate this is an extreme adjustment and genuinely hard on the body. The monsoon from June to September also floods Bihar and disrupts road transfers. India is 2.5 hours behind Mongolian 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 Mongolia — we check for every one of them before submitting.
The defining Mongolian-specific problem. Mongolians traditionally have no family surname — most people use a given name plus a patronymic, and passports reflect that, sometimes with only one name in the surname field or an unusual arrangement. Enter the name exactly as the passport presents it and do not invent a family surname to make the form look conventional. Then make sure your airline booking uses the same arrangement.
Mongolia uses Cyrillic, and names have several valid Latin transliterations — Batbayar or Batbaiar, Tsetseg or Cetseg. Your passport uses one specific form and the eVisa must match it exactly, as must your airline ticket.
Short pilgrimage visits and attending teachings are tourism, and the tourist eVisa covers them. But residence at an Indian monastery for a course of study is study, and requires a student visa arranged through an Indian mission before travel. The eVisa cannot be extended or converted once you are in India, so this needs deciding beforehand.
Bihar in May and June exceeds 45°C, and monsoon flooding from June to September disrupts road transfers between the pilgrimage sites. November to February is the only window that really works, and it coincides with the major teachings anyway.
Every traveller needs an individual eVisa on their own passport, including elderly pilgrims and children. A group of thirty means thirty separate applications, each with its own photograph and passport scan. Budget the time accordingly.
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 Ulaanbaatar is not involved in eVisa applications, which are handled entirely online. It covers what the eVisa cannot: student visas — including for monastic and Buddhist studies programmes in India, which is a well-established route from Mongolia — plus employment, journalism and research visas, and OCI matters.
FAQs
The questions Mongolian passport holders ask most often about applying for an Indian eVisa.
Enter your name exactly as the passport presents it — whatever appears in the passport's surname field goes in the eVisa's surname field, even if that is a patronymic or a single name. Do not invent a family surname to make the form look conventional. Then make sure your airline booking uses the same arrangement, because Indian immigration compares the visa against both your passport and your ticket. This is the most common source of mismatch for Mongolian applicants.
No. Pilgrimage counts as tourism under the eVisa scheme, so a tourist eVisa covers Bodh Gaya, Sarnath, Rajgir, Nalanda and visits to Dharamshala. Gaya is a designated eVisa airport and the gateway to Bodh Gaya. For most pilgrims the 30-day double-entry version is sufficient and the cheapest option.
No. Attending teachings on a short visit is pilgrimage and the tourist eVisa covers it. But residence at an Indian monastery for a course of study is study, and requires a student visa arranged through the embassy in Ulaanbaatar before you travel. The eVisa cannot be extended or converted once you are in India, so decide before applying.
Up to 90 days per visit on the tourist eVisa. The 30-day version allows 30 days with double entry, which suits most pilgrimage circuits. 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.
November to February. Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are cool and dry, the long road transfers between the sites are manageable, and major teachings at Bodh Gaya often fall in this window. Avoid May and June, when Bihar exceeds 45°C — an extreme adjustment from Mongolia's climate — and the June to September monsoon, when flooding disrupts road travel.
No. Every routing involves at least one connection, most commonly through Seoul, Beijing, Istanbul or a Gulf hub, with total journey times of 12 to 20 hours. Seoul and Istanbul generally give the most reliable schedules. For the pilgrimage circuit, connect from Delhi or Kolkata to Gaya or Varanasi.
Fees are set by nationality and duration, so the pricing panel on this page loads live figures for Mongolian 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 traveller needs an individual eVisa on their own passport, including elderly pilgrims and children, each with its own photograph and passport scan. A group of thirty means thirty separate applications. Start two to three weeks ahead for a group booking, because in any large group at least one photo or scan will need replacing.
Your nationality is already set to Mongolia. 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.
