Let us confirm your eligibility before anything is submitted. Vatican City issues mainly diplomatic and service passports, which the India eVisa scheme does not accept — so the right route depends on which document you hold.
90 days
Maximum stay per visit
24–72 hrs
Typical processing time
Up to 1 year
Longest validity offered
Not eligible
Visa on Arrival
100% online
No embassy visit
Important for Vatican City passport holders
Vatican City issues almost exclusively diplomatic and service passports, and India's eVisa scheme does not accept either — the eVisa route requires a regular, ordinary passport. If you hold a Vatican diplomatic or service passport, your application must go through an Indian mission rather than the eVisa system. Check with us before booking flights; we will tell you which route applies at no cost.
Overview
Vatican City is a genuinely unusual case, and it is worth being direct about why. The Holy See issues a small number of passports, and they are almost all diplomatic or service documents rather than ordinary ones. India's eVisa scheme explicitly excludes diplomatic, official and service passports — that restriction applies to every nationality, not just this one.
The practical consequence is that most Vatican passport holders cannot use the eVisa route at all and must apply through an Indian mission instead. That is not a refusal; it is a different and well-established process, and for diplomatic and service travel it is the correct one. It simply takes longer and cannot be done online.
If you hold an ordinary Vatican passport, or you hold Vatican residence but travel on an Italian or other ordinary passport, the position is different. Because this depends entirely on the document in your hand, we verify it before submitting anything.
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. A visa is required before boarding regardless of which passport you hold.
The category depends on the document and the purpose. Diplomatic and service passport holders travelling on official business apply through an Indian mission for the appropriate diplomatic or official visa — this is outside the eVisa scheme entirely, and it usually involves a note from the issuing authority. The eVisa's tourist, business and medical categories are available only to holders of ordinary passports.
Many people living or working in Vatican City hold Italian or other ordinary passports and travel on those. If that describes you, apply as a citizen of that country — Italy, Poland, Argentina or wherever — and the standard eVisa route is open to you with that country's fees and entitlements.
Stay & validity
Where an ordinary passport is held and the eVisa route is open, the standard tourist entitlement is up to 90 days per visit, with the 30-day double-entry version counted from your arrival date. Available durations are confirmed at the point of application.
Where a diplomatic or service passport is held, duration and conditions are set by the visa the Indian mission issues rather than by the eVisa scheme, and they vary with the purpose of travel and any bilateral arrangements that apply.
The general eVisa conditions apply in full to anyone using that route: it cannot be extended or converted from inside India, it is valid only at designated airports and authorised seaports, it does not permit land border crossings, and it does not grant access to Protected or Restricted Areas.
The business eVisa, where available, 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 Vatican City passport holders, shown all-in — nothing further is charged later.
Your nationality is pre-selected as Vatican City
Requirements
Everything Vatican City 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.
Where the eVisa route is open, standard processing takes 48 to 72 hours and express handling 24 to 48 hours, both business-day estimates extended by Indian public holidays.
Where a consular application is required — which is the position for most Vatican passport holders — allow considerably longer. Diplomatic and official visa applications go through an Indian mission, involve documentation from the issuing authority, and cannot be compressed at short notice. Start as early as possible, and confirm your route with us before committing to flights.
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
Vatican City is inside Rome, so Rome Fiumicino is the departure airport and it has nonstop Air India service to Delhi at around eight hours. Delhi is a designated eVisa port for travellers using that route.
Best time to go
October to March is India's dry season and the best window for travel across most of the country. The Christmas and New Year period is the fare peak out of Rome.
For travel connected to India's Christian communities, Goa and Kerala are the principal centres, and both are best from November to March. Goa's monsoon runs June to September; Kerala receives rain from the south-west monsoon in the same period and the north-east monsoon from October to December, so January to March is driest there.
Avoid the northern plains in May and June, when temperatures exceed 45°C. India is 3.5 to 4.5 hours ahead of Rome time depending on the season.
Avoid these
Refusals are rare, and almost always technical rather than substantive. These are the problems that come up most often on applications from Vatican City — we check for every one of them before submitting.
The defining issue on this page, and the reason it leads with a notice. India's eVisa scheme excludes diplomatic, official and service passports for every nationality. Since Vatican City issues almost exclusively those document types, most holders cannot use the eVisa at all and must apply through an Indian mission. Submitting an eVisa application on such a passport wastes time and fees.
A consular application takes far longer than an eVisa and cannot be rushed. If your document requires one, a non-refundable ticket bought on the assumption of 72-hour online processing is an expensive mistake. Confirm the route first — it costs nothing and takes very little time.
Many people living or working in Vatican City hold an Italian or other ordinary passport alongside any Vatican document. If you will travel on the ordinary passport, apply on that nationality and the standard eVisa route is open to you. The visa must match the passport you present on arrival, so decide before applying.
Diplomatic and official visa applications through an Indian mission generally require supporting documentation from the issuing authority. Obtaining it takes time and is often the real bottleneck, so start it alongside the visa application rather than after.
They apply to everyone. 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 any visa.
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
For most Vatican passport holders the Indian mission is not an optional extra but the actual route: diplomatic and service passports fall outside the eVisa scheme and must be handled consularly. The mission is also where employment, journalism, research and long-term student visas are issued, and where any note from the issuing authority would be lodged.
FAQs
The questions Vatican City passport holders ask most often about applying for an Indian eVisa.
Usually not. India's eVisa scheme excludes diplomatic, official and service passports for every nationality, and Vatican City issues almost exclusively those document types. If that is what you hold, your application must go through an Indian mission rather than the eVisa system. Check with us before booking anything — we will confirm which route applies at no cost.
It is a general rule of the eVisa scheme rather than anything specific to Vatican City. The eVisa is built for ordinary passports; diplomatic, official and service travel is handled consularly, typically with a supporting note from the issuing authority and a visa category matched to the purpose of the visit. That process is well established — it simply is not online.
Apply as an Italian citizen on your Italian passport, and the standard eVisa route is open to you with Italian fees and entitlements. The important thing is that the visa must match the passport you actually present on arrival in India, so decide which document you are travelling on before you apply.
Considerably longer than an eVisa's 24 to 72 hours, and it cannot be compressed at short notice — it involves an Indian mission and usually documentation from the issuing authority, which is often the real bottleneck. Start as early as you can, and do not buy non-refundable tickets until the route is confirmed.
Rome Fiumicino has nonstop Air India service to Delhi at around eight hours, and Delhi is a designated eVisa port for travellers using that route. Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai are reachable via Doha, Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Istanbul. Milan Malpensa also has nonstop Delhi service and is reachable by rail.
If you are travelling on an ordinary passport, a tourist eVisa covers visits to churches, basilicas and religious sites — pilgrimage counts as tourism. Goa and Kerala are the principal centres, both best from November to March. If you hold a diplomatic or service passport, or the purpose is official, that goes through an Indian mission instead.
Yes — they apply to everyone regardless of passport type or visa category. Parts of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Sikkim and Ladakh, plus the Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep, require a Protected Area Permit or Restricted Area Permit in addition to any visa. These are arranged inside India and take longer than a visa.
If the eVisa route is open to you, the pricing panel on this page loads live figures for the options available, inclusive of our service fee. If a consular application is required instead, the cost structure is different and set by the Indian mission — we will explain what is involved once we have confirmed which route applies to your document.
Your nationality is already set to Vatican City. 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.
