Vanuatu 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 Vanuatu citizens
Vanuatu operates a citizenship-by-investment programme, so a substantial share of Vanuatu passport holders live elsewhere and hold more than one nationality. The eVisa binds to a single passport number and you must enter India on that same document. Fees and entitlements follow the passport you apply on, not where you live — and if you hold a second nationality, compare them before choosing.
Overview
Vanuatu's travellers to India divide into two groups that need quite different advice. Ni-Vanuatu travelling from the islands face a routing question — Port Vila connects to Brisbane, Auckland, Nadi and Nouméa, and the onward journey runs through Singapore or a Gulf hub. Citizenship-by-investment passport holders, who often live in Asia, the Middle East or Africa, face a document question instead.
Vanuatu's CBI programme is one of the more active in the world, and that makes the passport question the first one to settle rather than an afterthought. The eVisa is issued against a specific passport number, and you must present that same document on arrival in India.
Every Vanuatu 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. Vanuatu 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. Commonwealth membership makes no difference — an approved Indian visa is required before boarding.
If you hold more than one nationality, decide which passport you will travel on before applying. Fees, stay allowances and transit requirements all follow the passport you choose, not your country of residence. A British, American, Canadian or Japanese second passport carries India's extended 180-day allowance against Vanuatu's 90.
Then choose the category by purpose. Tourism, sightseeing and visiting friends fall under the tourist eVisa. 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 need a regular visa from an Indian mission.
Stay & validity
Vanuatu 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.
If you hold a second nationality, compare the entitlements before choosing which passport to apply on. The difference between 90 and 180 days per visit can decide the shape of a long trip, and the fees differ too.
The eVisa is bound to a single passport number, so you must enter India on the document the visa was issued against. A passport renewal during a multi-year visa's term also invalidates it.
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 Vanuatu passport holders, shown all-in — nothing further is charged later.
Your nationality is pre-selected as Vanuatu
Requirements
Everything Vanuatu 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. If you hold multiple passports, settle that question first of all — it changes the fees, the allowance and possibly the routing. Australian and New Zealand transit requirements also need checking early.
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
Port Vila connects to Brisbane, Auckland, Nadi and Nouméa, and the onward journey to India runs through Singapore or a Gulf hub. Total journey times run 20 to 28 hours. If you are applying on a CBI passport from a country of residence elsewhere, your actual routing may be entirely different.
Best time to go
October to March is India's dry season and the best window for the classic circuits. Note that this overlaps with the South Pacific cyclone season, which runs November to April and can disrupt Vanuatu departures — worth building margin into a fixed-date trip.
The Vanuatu dry season runs May to October, which is the tail of India's hot season and the monsoon — workable for Ladakh and the Himalaya but poor for the plains.
Avoid the northern plains in May and June, when temperatures exceed 45°C. India is 6.5 hours behind Vanuatu time, so with 20-plus hours in transit 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 Vanuatu — we check for every one of them before submitting.
The defining issue for citizenship-by-investment holders, and Vanuatu runs one of the world's more active programmes. The eVisa is tied to a specific passport number and you must present that same document on arrival in India. Applying on the Vanuatu passport and travelling on another — or the reverse — means arriving with a visa that does not match. Decide before applying and stay consistent.
If you hold a second passport, compare entitlements first. British, American, Canadian and Japanese passports carry India's 180-day allowance; the Vanuatu passport carries 90. For an extended trip that may decide which document to use, and the fees differ too.
It does not. Fees, stay allowances and transit requirements follow the passport you apply on, not where you live. A CBI holder resident in Dubai or Bangkok applying on a Vanuatu passport gets Vanuatu terms — but should check what transit permissions their actual departure point requires.
Most routings from Port Vila go through Brisbane or Auckland, and both have their own transit requirements depending on nationality and whether you clear immigration. Your India eVisa says nothing about them.
The South Pacific cyclone season runs November to April and overlaps with India's best weather. On a 24-hour, multi-connection itinerary a disrupted Vanuatu departure cascades badly. Build in real margin for a fixed-date 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
Vanuatu is served under concurrent accreditation by an Indian mission in the region, most likely Suva, rather than by a resident post. That has no bearing on your eVisa, which is entirely online. Confirm coverage if you need a student, employment or research visa, or an OCI card.
FAQs
The questions Vanuatu passport holders ask most often about applying for an Indian eVisa.
Decide before you apply and use that one document consistently. The eVisa is tied to a specific passport number and you must present the same passport on arrival in India — applying on one and travelling on the other means arriving with a visa that does not match. Compare entitlements too: British, American, Canadian and Japanese passports carry India's 180-day allowance against Vanuatu's 90.
No. Fees, stay allowances and entitlements all follow the passport you apply on, not your country of residence. But do check what transit permissions your actual routing requires from wherever you are departing — that is a separate question and your India eVisa says nothing about it.
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.
Port Vila connects to Brisbane, Auckland, Nadi and Nouméa, and the onward journey runs through Singapore — which opens the widest set of Indian arrival cities — or a Gulf hub. Total journey time is 20 to 28 hours. Australian and New Zealand transit have their own requirements, so check those separately.
It can. The South Pacific cyclone season runs November to April and overlaps with India's best travel window. On a 24-hour, multi-connection itinerary a disrupted Vanuatu departure cascades badly, so build in real margin if you are travelling for fixed dates.
No. Vanuatu and India are both Commonwealth members, but that confers no visa advantage. An approved Indian visa is required before boarding, exactly as for any other nationality.
Fees are set by nationality and duration, so the pricing panel on this page loads live figures for Vanuatu passport holders across all available options. If you hold a second nationality the figures will differ, which is worth comparing before choosing which passport to apply on.
Vanuatu is served under concurrent accreditation by an Indian mission in the region, most likely Suva, rather than by a resident post. That has no bearing on your eVisa, which is entirely online. Confirm coverage if you need a student, employment or research visa, or an OCI card.
Your nationality is already set to Vanuatu. 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.
