Panamanian 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
Important for Panamanian citizens
India requires a valid yellow-fever vaccination certificate from travellers arriving from Panama — the only Central American country on India's list. Without one you can be quarantined on arrival for up to six days, whatever visa you hold. The certificate is only valid from ten days after vaccination.
Overview
Panama's connection to India is more commercial than most of Central America's, and it runs through two channels. The Colón Free Zone — the largest free port in the Americas — has a long-established Indian trading community, with families who have run import and re-export businesses there for generations. And the Panama Canal makes Panama a fixture of the India–Americas shipping route.
Panama also has the best air connectivity in the region. Tocumen is Copa's hub, which gives Panamanians more onward options than any of their neighbours — and importantly, routings that avoid US transit entirely.
Every Panamanian 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. Panamanian 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. Panamanian citizens must hold an approved visa before boarding, and because every routing involves at least one connection, the check can happen at Tocumen or at a hub.
Choose the category by purpose. Trade meetings, supplier visits, Colón Free Zone sourcing and shipping business require the business eVisa. Tourism, sightseeing and visiting relatives fall under the tourist 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 an Indian mission.
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 with your agent before travelling, because it cannot be resolved at the port.
Stay & validity
Panamanian 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 Colón Free Zone sourcing — where buyers commonly make several trips a year to Indian suppliers — the five-year multiple-entry business eVisa is comfortably the better economics, and it permits up to 180 days per visit against the tourist visa's 90.
The eVisa is bound to a single passport number, so a passport renewal during a multi-year visa's term invalidates it, with no transfer process.
The medical eVisa gives 60 days from first entry with triple entry.
Pricing
Live government fees and service charges for Panamanian passport holders, shown all-in — nothing further is charged later.
Your nationality is pre-selected as Panama
Requirements
Everything Panamanian 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. The yellow-fever certificate needs ten days to become valid and is the real long lead item, so start that first. For recurring Free Zone sourcing, a five-year multiple-entry business eVisa removes the timing pressure permanently.
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
Tocumen is Copa's hub and gives Panama the best connectivity in Central America, including routings to India that avoid US transit entirely. Total journey times run 24 to 30 hours.
Best time to go
October to March is India's dry season and the best window for both business and leisure travel.
For Free Zone sourcing, the Indian commercial calendar matters more than the weather. Diwali closes much of Indian trade for several days across many states, and the run-up is the busiest shipping period of the year — meetings scheduled into that window tend to be unproductive.
Avoid the northern plains in May and June, when temperatures exceed 45°C. Mumbai's monsoon from June to September brings very heavy rain and can disrupt flights and port operations. India is 10.5 hours ahead of Panamanian time, so plan a genuine rest day on arrival.
Avoid these
Refusals are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the problems that come up most often on applications from Panama — we check for every one of them before submitting.
Panama is the only Central American country on India's yellow-fever list, which catches out travellers who have read guidance written for the region generally. India requires proof of vaccination from travellers arriving from Panama, and without it you can be quarantined on arrival for up to six days. The certificate is only valid from ten days after vaccination.
Inspecting goods, negotiating with Indian suppliers, attending trade fairs and arranging re-export business are commercial activities requiring the business eVisa — which is also more generous, at 180 days per visit against 90. For buyers making several trips a year the five-year version is much better value.
Panamanian passports carry a paternal and a maternal surname, and both belong in the surname field, in the printed order, without merging or hyphenating. Using only the primer apellido creates a mismatch that Indian immigration will pick up.
Relevant given Panama's shipping registry and canal traffic. 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.
Diwali closes much of Indian trade for several days, and the run-up is the busiest shipping period of the year. Check the Indian regional calendar before booking a fixed-date sourcing trip.
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 Panama City 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 Panama's long-established Indian trading community.
FAQs
The questions Panamanian passport holders ask most often about applying for an Indian eVisa.
Yes — and this catches people out, because Panama is the only Central American country on India's yellow-fever list. Without a valid certificate you can be quarantined on arrival for up to six days regardless of your visa, and it only becomes valid ten days after vaccination. Guidance written for the region generally will not mention this, so arrange it before anything else.
The business eVisa. Inspecting goods, negotiating with Indian suppliers, attending trade fairs and arranging re-export business are commercial activities the tourist eVisa does not cover. You will need an invitation letter from the Indian company on its letterhead. It permits up to 180 days per visit within a one-year window, and a five-year multiple-entry version suits buyers travelling several times a year.
Up to 90 days per visit on the tourist eVisa. The 30-day version allows 30 days with double entry. The business eVisa permits up to 180 days per visit within a one-year multiple-entry window, and the medical eVisa 60 days from first entry with triple entry.
Yes, and Panama is better placed for this than its neighbours. Tocumen is Copa's hub, and routings via Madrid, Amsterdam or Istanbul avoid US transit entirely — which matters if you do not hold a US visa. Total journey time is 24 to 30 hours either way.
Both of them, exactly as printed on your passport's name line and in the printed order, in the surname field. If your passport shows GONZÁLEZ ARIAS, that whole string is your surname as far as Indian immigration is concerned. Do not shorten it to the primer apellido, do not hyphenate, and do not swap the order.
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. Given Panama's shipping registry this comes up regularly. Confirm the requirements with your shipping agent well before travel.
Around Diwali, when much of Indian trade closes for several days across many states, and the run-up when everything is at its busiest and meetings tend to be unproductive. Also avoid the northern plains in May and June, when temperatures exceed 45°C, and note that Mumbai's monsoon from June to September can disrupt flights and port operations.
Fees are set by nationality and duration, so the pricing panel on this page loads live figures for Panamanian passport holders across all available options. Panama uses the US dollar, so the USD-denominated government fee is straightforward to pay. The amount shown is the full cost including our service fee.
Your nationality is already set to Panama. 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.
