Taiwanese passport holders can apply for the Indian eVisa entirely online — no office 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
Overview
Taiwan's business relationship with India has grown sharply, driven by electronics and semiconductor manufacturing. Taiwanese contract manufacturers have built substantial operations in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh, and the resulting travel — engineers, plant managers, supply-chain staff — is frequent, repetitive and firmly commercial. Alongside it sits a leisure market drawn to the Golden Triangle, Kerala and Buddhist sites.
Every Taiwanese 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 appointment.
Taiwanese passport holders receive up to 90 days per visit on the tourist eVisa, and the five-year multiple-entry version is available. For the electronics and semiconductor travel pattern the five-year multiple-entry business eVisa is almost always the right instrument — it permits up to 180 days per visit and removes the application from your calendar entirely.
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. Taiwanese citizens must hold an approved visa before boarding, and your carrier will verify it at the gate in Taipei.
Choose the category by purpose. Tourism, sightseeing, visiting friends and wellness travel fall under the tourist eVisa. Meetings, trade fairs, supplier audits, plant commissioning and technical discussions require the business eVisa — the correct category for the great majority of Taiwanese travel to India. Hospital treatment requires the medical eVisa. Employment, journalism, academic research and long-term study are outside the eVisa scheme and need a regular visa.
The distinction between business visiting and employment matters here more than in most markets. Attending meetings, auditing suppliers or commissioning equipment is business visiting. Being employed by an Indian entity, on an Indian payroll, in an Indian role is employment, and requires an employment visa arranged in advance — not an eVisa.
Stay & validity
Taiwanese 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.
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 plant work in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka or Uttar Pradesh. For staff making repeated trips through a project's build-out, the five-year multiple-entry version is comfortably the better economics.
The eVisa is bound to a single passport number, so a Taiwanese passport renewal during a multi-year visa's term invalidates it, with no transfer process. If you rely on the same visa across a multi-year project, plan the renewal deliberately.
The medical eVisa gives 60 days from first entry with triple entry.
Pricing
Live government fees and service charges for Taiwanese passport holders, shown all-in — nothing further is charged later.
Your nationality is pre-selected as Taiwan
Requirements
Everything Taiwanese 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. Tamil Nadu, where much of the Taiwanese electronics investment sits, has its own regional holidays including Pongal in January.
Apply at least a week before departure, ideally two. For project and commissioning travel, a five-year multiple-entry business eVisa removes the timing pressure permanently, which is worth arranging once rather than repeating the application every trip.
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
Taipei has nonstop service to Delhi, and Delhi is a designated eVisa port. For Chennai and the Tamil Nadu manufacturing belt — the main destination for Taiwanese business travel — a connection through Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong or Kuala Lumpur is usually faster than routing via Delhi.
Best time to go
October to March is India's dry season and the best window for leisure travel. For Taiwanese travellers the Lunar New Year in late January or February falls squarely inside it — ideal weather but the peak fare period, so book several months ahead.
For business travel to Chennai and Tamil Nadu the pattern differs from the north: the north-east monsoon brings heavy rain from October to December, and Chennai flooding does disrupt travel and plant operations in that window. January to March is the driest and most reliable period there.
Chennai in May and June is hot and humid rather than dry-hot, which is its own kind of difficult for site work. Avoid the northern plains in May and June, when temperatures exceed 45°C. India is 2.5 hours behind Taiwan time, so there is effectively no jet lag.
Avoid these
Refusals are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the problems that come up most often on applications from Taiwan — we check for every one of them before submitting.
The defining Taiwanese-specific problem. Taiwan has used several romanisation systems, so the same Chinese name can appear as Chang or Zhang, Kao or Gao, Hsieh or Xie, Chou or Zhou. Your passport uses one specific form, and the eVisa must match it exactly, as must your airline ticket. Applicants who use a different system — or the spelling from an older document — create a mismatch Indian immigration will query.
Chinese convention places the family name first, and Taiwanese passports print the Latin-character name in labelled fields. Fill the eVisa form to match the passport's field layout — family name in the surname field — rather than following spoken order. Note too that hyphenated given names such as Wei-Ting must keep the hyphen exactly as printed.
Very common in this market because the tourist eVisa needs no invitation letter. Commissioning equipment, auditing suppliers and attending technical reviews are commercial activities requiring the business eVisa — which gives 180 days per visit against the tourist visa's 90, so there is nothing to gain from the shortcut.
If you are being employed by an Indian entity, on an Indian payroll, that is an employment visa and must be arranged in advance. A business eVisa covers visiting, not working for an Indian employer. For long project postings this distinction matters and is worth clarifying with your company's mobility team.
Taiwanese citizens receive 90 days per visit on the tourist eVisa. The 180-day tourist allowance applies to American, British, Canadian and Japanese nationals only. The business eVisa does give Taiwanese travellers 180 days per visit.
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 India Taipei Association is not involved in eVisa applications, which are handled entirely online. It handles what the eVisa cannot cover: employment, journalism, research and long-term student visas, and other consular matters. For long project postings that amount to employment rather than business visiting, it is the right first contact.
FAQs
The questions Taiwanese passport holders ask most often about applying for an Indian eVisa.
Exactly the one printed on your current passport, character for character, including any hyphen in a given name. Taiwan has used several romanisation systems, so the same name can appear as Chang or Zhang, Hsieh or Xie. Only the passport spelling is correct for the visa, and your airline ticket should match it too — Indian immigration compares the eVisa against both.
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 — double the tourist allowance and the right choice for most Taiwanese travel — and the medical eVisa 60 days from first entry with triple entry.
The business eVisa, if you are attending meetings, auditing suppliers, commissioning equipment or holding technical discussions. You will need an invitation letter from the Indian entity on its letterhead. It permits 180 days per visit within a one-year window, and a five-year multiple-entry version suits multi-year project build-outs. If you are actually being employed by an Indian entity on an Indian payroll, that is an employment visa instead.
Fees are set by nationality and duration, so the pricing panel on this page loads live figures for Taiwanese 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.
Taipei has nonstop service to Delhi at around seven hours, but for Chennai — the centre of Taiwanese electronics investment in India — a connection through Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong or Kuala Lumpur is usually faster than routing via Delhi. Chennai is a designated eVisa airport, so either approach works for the visa.
October to December, when the north-east monsoon brings heavy rain to Tamil Nadu and Chennai flooding can disrupt both travel and plant operations. January to March is the driest and most reliable window. Note also Pongal in January, a major Tamil Nadu holiday that closes businesses for several days.
No. Indian Visa on Arrival is limited to Japanese, South Korean and Emirati nationals. Taiwanese citizens need an approved visa before boarding, and your airline will verify it at the gate in Taipei.
No. The eVisa cannot be extended or converted from inside India. For extended project work, the business eVisa's 180 days per visit is usually sufficient; beyond that, either leave and re-enter on a multiple-entry visa or discuss a regular visa with the India Taipei Association before you travel.
Your nationality is already set to Taiwan. 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.
