Thai passport holders can apply for the Indian eVisa entirely online — no appointment at the Embassy of India in Bangkok, 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
Thailand is one of India's most important religious tourism markets. The Buddhist circuit — Bodh Gaya, Sarnath, Kushinagar, Rajgir, Nalanda and Lumbini across the Nepal border — draws very large numbers of Thai pilgrims every winter, often in organised temple groups travelling with monks. India has invested heavily in the infrastructure serving this traffic, including direct international service into Gaya and Varanasi.
Alongside pilgrimage sits ordinary leisure and business travel, and Bangkok's position as a hub gives Thai travellers exceptional access: nonstop service to a dozen or more Indian cities at three to four and a half hours.
Every Thai 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, and Thai passport holders receive up to 90 days per visit on the tourist eVisa — comfortably more than any pilgrimage circuit requires.
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. Thai citizens must hold an approved visa before boarding, and your carrier will verify it at the gate in Bangkok.
Choose the category by purpose. Pilgrimage, tourism, sightseeing, visiting friends and wellness travel all fall under the tourist eVisa — religious pilgrimage is tourism for these purposes, and no special endorsement is needed. Business meetings, trade fairs and supplier visits require the business eVisa. Hospital treatment requires the medical eVisa. Employment, journalism, academic research and long-term study — including formal enrolment at a Buddhist studies institution in India — are outside the eVisa scheme and need a regular visa from the embassy in Bangkok.
One point specific to monastic travel: ordained monks travelling on a Thai passport apply through the same eVisa route as anyone else. But if the purpose is extended residence at an Indian monastery or formal religious study rather than pilgrimage, that falls outside the tourist category and should be discussed with the embassy first.
Stay & validity
Thai 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 — and for the great majority of pilgrimage groups, which typically travel for one to two weeks, the 30-day version is entirely sufficient and the cheapest option.
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 — the multi-year visa is better value than repeat applications.
The eVisa is bound to a single passport number, so a Thai passport renewal during a multi-year visa's term invalidates it, with no transfer process.
One important routing note for the Buddhist circuit: Lumbini, the Buddha's birthplace, is in Nepal, not India. If your itinerary crosses into Nepal and back, the eVisa cannot be used for a land re-entry into India — it is valid only at designated airports and authorised seaports. Groups combining both countries need to plan this carefully.
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 Thai passport holders, shown all-in — nothing further is charged later.
Your nationality is pre-selected as Thailand
Requirements
Everything Thai 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.
For group pilgrimage travel, start considerably earlier than a week. Every member needs an individual application with their own photograph and passport scan, and in a group of thirty or forty there will almost always be one photo or scan that needs replacing. Two to three weeks is a sensible target for a group booking.
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
Bangkok is one of the best-connected airports in Asia for India, with nonstop service to a dozen or more Indian cities at three to four and a half hours — including direct service into Gaya and Varanasi during the pilgrimage season, which avoids a domestic connection entirely.
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, the sites are comfortable to visit on foot, and the long road transfers between Bodh Gaya, Rajgir, Nalanda, Sarnath and Kushinagar are manageable. This is when Bodh Gaya is at its liveliest, with pilgrims from across the Buddhist world.
Avoid Bihar in May and June, when temperatures regularly exceed 45°C. For a pilgrimage involving outdoor sites, long transfers and often elderly travellers, this is genuinely unsafe rather than merely uncomfortable, and it is worth moving dates for.
The monsoon from June to September brings flooding to Bihar in particular, which disrupts road transfers and regional flights on a multi-site circuit. For general leisure travel, October to March works across most of India. India is 1.5 hours behind Thai 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 Thailand — we check for every one of them before submitting.
The most consequential error on the Buddhist circuit, because Lumbini is in Nepal. The eVisa is valid only at India's designated airports and authorised seaports, so if your group crosses into Nepal it cannot walk back across at Sunauli. Either return to India by air, or arrange regular paper visas through the embassy in Bangkok for the whole group. Sort this before the itinerary is fixed.
Thai surnames are frequently very long, and applicants sometimes shorten or abbreviate them to fit a form field. Every character must match the passport exactly, and your airline booking too. If a field appears too short, that is worth checking rather than truncating.
Every traveller needs an individual eVisa on their own passport, including children and elderly pilgrims. Temple groups of thirty or forty mean thirty or forty separate applications, each with its own photograph and passport scan. Budget the time accordingly rather than discovering this a week out.
Bihar in May and June exceeds 45°C, and monsoon flooding from June to September disrupts road transfers. Given that pilgrimage groups often include elderly travellers and involve long outdoor days, November to February is the only window that really works.
Thai citizens receive 90 days per visit, not the 180 days granted to American, British, Canadian and Japanese nationals. This is rarely a constraint for pilgrimage, but it matters for anyone planning an extended stay, and the eVisa cannot be extended from inside India.
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
Neither mission is involved in an eVisa application, which is handled entirely online. They cover what the eVisa cannot: employment, journalism, research and long-term student visas — including formal enrolment at Buddhist studies institutions in India — plus the regular paper visas needed for a land crossing from Nepal, and OCI matters.
FAQs
The questions Thai passport holders ask most often about applying for an Indian eVisa.
No. Pilgrimage counts as tourism under the eVisa scheme, so a tourist eVisa covers visits to Bodh Gaya, Sarnath, Kushinagar, Rajgir and Nalanda with no special endorsement. Gaya is a designated eVisa airport and the gateway to Bodh Gaya, with direct seasonal service from Bangkok. For most groups the 30-day double-entry eVisa is sufficient and the cheapest option.
Not by land — this is the single most important thing to get right on the circuit. The eVisa is accepted only at India's designated airports and authorised seaports, so you cannot cross back at Sunauli or any other land border. Either fly back into India, or arrange regular paper visas through the embassy in Bangkok for everyone travelling. Resolve this before the itinerary is finalised.
Up to 90 days per visit on the tourist eVisa — far more than any pilgrimage circuit needs. The 30-day version allows 30 days with double entry and suits most groups. 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.
No. Every traveller needs an individual eVisa on their own passport, including children and elderly pilgrims, each with its own photograph and passport scan. A group of forty means forty 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.
Fees are set by nationality and duration, so the pricing panel on this page loads live figures for Thai 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.
November to February. Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are cool and dry, the sites are comfortable on foot, and the long road transfers are manageable. Avoid May and June, when Bihar exceeds 45°C — genuinely unsafe for a group including elderly travellers — and avoid the June to September monsoon, when flooding disrupts road transfers.
A dozen or more, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Pune and Jaipur, at three to four and a half hours. Crucially for pilgrimage, there is also direct seasonal and charter service into Gaya and Varanasi, which avoids a domestic connection. Every one of these is a designated eVisa port.
No. Indian Visa on Arrival is limited to Japanese, South Korean and Emirati nationals. Thai citizens need an approved visa before boarding, and your airline will verify it at the gate in Bangkok.
Your nationality is already set to Thailand. 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.
