India e-Business Visa from the UK 2026: USD 242 Fee, Rules

TL;DR

The India e-Business visa is valid for 365 days from the grant of the ETA, allows multiple entries and up to 180 days per visit, and costs USD 242 for a UK passport, paid on indianvisaonline.gov.in, the only official portal. You upload your passport scan and a business card or an invitation letter from the Indian company. It does not allow employment. Apply yourself for the official fee alone, or we prepare and submit it for £35 per applicant.

What the e-Business visa allows

The portal's eligibility list puts it simply: the e-Visa is open to foreigners whose sole objective for visiting India includes "business purpose". In practice that is meetings, negotiations, trade visits, site visits and the like on behalf of a company outside India. The portal also lists specific documented sub-purposes under e-Business: sports-related activity, delivering lectures under the Global Initiative for Academic Networks, film work and conferences, each with its own extra documents.

What it does not allow is a job. The portal's FAQ says e-Visa is not allowed for employment and that you should apply for a regular visa, and it rules out journalism and NGO activity on any e-Visa. If you will be paid by an Indian employer, this is not your visa.

Only indianvisaonline.gov.in/evisa issues it. The portal says it is the only official website for e-Visa services and that no intermediary is needed.

Validity and stay

The e-Business visa (the portal's e-B1 V) is valid for one year, 365 days from the date the ETA is granted, with multiple entries. Continuous stay during each visit must not exceed 180 days. If you intend to stay longer than 180 days on a visit, the portal says you must register with the FRRO or FRO concerned within two weeks after the 180 days expire; for stays under 180 days no registration is needed.

Two consequences. The year starts at grant, not at first arrival, so applying 120 days early uses a third of it before you land. And nothing extends or converts an e-Visa, so a project that will run past the limits needs a regular business visa from the start.

The fee: USD 242

The portal publishes a fee PDF by nationality for e-Business, e-Medical and e-Medical Attendant visas. The United Kingdom row gives USD 242 for e-Business. A bank charge of 3 percent (4 percent through PayPal) is added on the payment page. The fee is for processing and is not refunded on a rejection or a cancelled trip, and it must be paid at least 4 days before your travel date or the application is not processed. The Government of India says it charges no emergency or express fee and that nothing is paid at the airport. Any site quoting more for the same visa is adding its own charge.

Documents: the business card rule

Every e-Visa needs a recent front-facing photo (square JPEG, 10 KB to 1 MB, no glasses, plain light background, no shadows, no borders) and the passport bio page as a PDF between 10 KB and 300 KB. The e-Business visa adds a copy of your business card, with any invitation letter from the Indian party optional.

The portal's FAQ defines the card more usefully than the form does: it means a card provided by the company you are working for, or an invitation letter from the company in India that includes the company's information, address and phone number in India. So a self-employed consultant without a printed card can use an invitation letter instead. Whatever you upload must be in English or the application is liable to be rejected, and it goes in as a PDF between 10 KB and 300 KB; the compressor handles the size and the bundler combines a card and a letter into one file. The FAQ also says the form asks for details of the Indian firm you intend to deal with.

e-Conference: a different visa

Attending a conference, seminar or workshop in India has its own sub-category, listed on the portal as e-Business for e-Conference purpose (e-B5 V): valid 30 days from the date of arrival, multiple entries. It needs an invitation from the organiser (mandatory), political clearance from the Ministry of External Affairs (mandatory) and event clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs (optional). The organiser uploads the event on conference.mha.gov.in, and the portal says you can ask the organiser for the invitation. The official fee PDF has no separate e-Conference column, so rely on the fee the portal shows for your category before you pay rather than on anything quoted elsewhere.

When to apply

Between 4 and 120 days before your arrival date. The portal publishes no processing time. It emails you to re-upload any document that fails its checks, normally within 24 hours, and emails the decision; you can check the status on the portal. Do not travel until it reads GRANTED, carry the printed ETA, and check your name, passport number, nationality and date of birth on it. The portal says discrepancies are the applicant's responsibility and should be raised with its support centre at least 24 hours before the journey.

Your passport needs six months' validity when you apply and two blank pages. Enter through one of the 37 designated airports (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Cochin, Ahmedabad, Pune and others) or a designated seaport; fingerprints and a photo are taken at immigration.

Who cannot use it

The same exclusions apply to every e-Visa. Foreigners of Pakistani origin or holding a Pakistani passport, and anyone whose parents or grandparents on either side were born in or permanently resident in Pakistan, must apply for a regular visa at an Indian mission. Diplomatic and official passport holders cannot use it, and the portal says anyone with a serving or retired defence, military, security or police background is not eligible and risks being refused entry and deported. OCI cardholders do not need a visa; see the OCI card guide. The plan step asks these questions before anything is paid.

Apply yourself, or £35 prepared and submitted

You can apply yourself on indianvisaonline.gov.in for the official fee alone. If your assistant or your own time is better spent elsewhere, our desk prepares the e-Business application in your own portal account from your details, checks the photo, passport scan and business card or invitation letter against the specification, sends you the completed form to check and submits it: £35 per applicant, each additional applicant £35, up to five on one order, which suits a small team travelling together. You pay the USD 242 on the portal yourself by your own card; we never take or enter card details. Submitted on the official portal within 24 hours of your complete details and documents, or your service fee back. Full refund if you cancel before work starts. The Government of India decides. WayaNerd Ltd, company 16269713. For other categories see the India e-Visa guide for British citizens.