The 5-Year India e-Tourist Visa Is Back in 2026: What UK Travellers Get Now
By Gagandeep SinghUpdated Editorial standards
The email arrived at 6am UK time, which is how we knew it mattered to the sender. A retired teacher in Leicester — British citizen, born in Jalandhar, gave up her Indian passport decades ago and, for reasons that are a story for another day, never took out OCI — had been rationing her trips to India around the 30-day e-visa for years. "I've just read," she wrote, "that the five-year tourist visa is back. Is that true, or is it one of those rumours? Because if it's real, it changes everything about how I see my family."
The five-year tourist visa is real and available. What is not real is the "just restored" part.
This article previously told you that India reinstated its long-duration tourist visas on 18 May 2026. That is wrong, and we should not have published it.
The 1-year and 5-year e-Tourist visas were suspended in March 2020 and restored in March 2022. The Indian mission announcement — "e-Tourist visas under the three options… which remained suspended since March 2020, shall stand restored" — has an archived capture from 20 May 2022. There was no 2026 restoration event; the tiers had been back for four years by then. What changed more recently was the fee, not the availability.
We are leaving this page at the same address because the underlying question — which tier should a UK traveller actually buy? — is a good one, and the answer has changed in a way that matters. It just is not the answer this page originally gave.
So: here are the three tiers, what each one costs a British passport holder, and the two details that decide the choice.
If you want the airport and seaport gateway list, that is covered in India e-visa entry points and fee changes 2026. If you are wondering whether to chance a self-application at all, India e-visa rejections 2026 is the honest companion to this one.
The three tiers, side by side
Indian e-visa fees are reciprocal — set nationality by nationality — and the United Kingdom sits near the top of the table. This is the single most important thing on this page, because almost every UK write-up of this subject quotes the wrong number.
| 30-day | 1-year | 5-year | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Validity | About 30 days from arrival | 1 year from grant | 5 years from grant |
| Entries | Multiple | Multiple | Multiple |
| Maximum stay | Within the 30 days | 180 days per calendar year | 180 days per calendar year |
| Fee for a UK passport | US$10 Apr–Jun, US$25 Jul–Mar | US$40 | US$484 |
| Roughly, in sterling | £8 to £20 | £33 | £394 |
| Best for | One short trip | A year of flexible visits | Almost nobody — see below |
Add 3% on card payments or 4% via PayPal to any of those.
Nearly every UK site quotes roughly US $80 for the five-year e-Tourist visa. US $80 is the global default rate. Row 166 of the government's published fee schedule — "United Kingdom (UK)" — reads 10 / 25 / 40 / 484. British passport holders pay six times the figure most blogs print.
That is not a rounding error, and it changes the recommendation completely. A five-year e-Tourist visa costs a British traveller about £394. A lifelong OCI card costs £247.78. If you are eligible for OCI, the five-year visa is the more expensive option, and it expires.
The two details that actually decide it
1. "Five years" is the visa's life, not your length of stay
This is where disappointment lives, so we will isolate it.
The 5-year e-Tourist visa lets you enter India as often as you like for five years — but the portal caps you at "180 days during one Calender Year". That is an annual total across all your visits, not a fresh 180 days each time you land. The same cap applies to the 1-year tier. (The per-visit reading you will find on several sites belongs to the e-Business visa, not this one.)
It is a tourist visa, not a residence permit. If your real plan is to settle, or to spend most of the year in India, this is the wrong instrument.
People hear "five-year visa" and picture an open door. What it grants is five years of coming and going, with each year's time inside the country capped. For someone spending a couple of months with family each winter and another stretch in spring, that is genuinely transformative. For someone imagining a permanent move, it is not the answer.
And to say it plainly, because we are asked constantly: a long tourist visa is not a back door to OCI or to dual nationality. It confers no residence rights, no right to work, and no path to citizenship.
2. When the clock starts
The 30-day visa is tied to your arrival: its validity runs from the date of entry. The 1-year and 5-year visas behave differently — validity runs from the date the authorisation is granted, not from when you land. The clock starts the moment your e-visa is issued, whether or not you have flown. On the five-year tier especially, a few wasted weeks at the start are a few wasted weeks of the window.
So which tier should you actually buy?
Honestly, for most UK readers the answer is now one of two things, and it is rarely the five-year visa.
If you visit India occasionally, for under a month: buy the 30-day visa, and buy it between April and June if you can — the rate drops to US $10 in that window. At £8 to £20 a trip, nothing beats it.
If you visit a few times in a year, or want longer stays: the 1-year multiple-entry at US $40 is the sweet spot. About £33, valid for a year of flexible visits.
If you were about to buy the 5-year visa: stop and check whether you qualify for OCI first. At UK rates the five-year visa costs more than a lifelong OCI, and the OCI has no 180-day cap, never expires, and needs no reapplication. If a parent or grandparent was an Indian citizen — or you are married to one — this is very likely open to you.
The one case where the five-year visa still makes sense: you are not OCI-eligible, you travel to India often, and you would rather pay once than reapply annually. Over five years at US $40 a year the one-year visa costs about £165 against £394 — so even then, the maths only works if the convenience of never reapplying is worth £229 to you.
Who this is really for: the UK British-Indian without OCI
The audience that benefits most from the long tiers is specific: UK passport holders who travel to India often but do not hold OCI. That includes British citizens of Indian origin who surrendered their Indian passports years ago and never took out an OCI card, as well as British travellers with strong family or cultural ties who simply visit a lot.
For this group the 30-day-and-reapply grind is a real tax on time. A 1-year multiple-entry visa replaces it with a single grant and a year of freedom to fly on short notice.
But if you are eligible for OCI, it is almost always the better answer — lifelong, no per-trip visa, no 180-day cap, and now cheaper than the five-year visa outright. OCI is not dual citizenship (no voting, no agricultural land, no government jobs, no constitutional office), but for lifetime visa-free travel it is hard to beat. We unpack the trade-offs in OCI vs Indian visa 2026 and the eligibility question in Indian e-visa for British citizens 2026.
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How to apply for the e-visa itself
We do not sell Indian visas, and you should not pay anyone to fill this form in for you. Apply directly at indianvisaonline.gov.in. Any site charging a "processing fee" on top of the government one is charging for something you can do at the kitchen table in twenty minutes.
Applying for a 1-year or 5-year e-Tourist visa
- Choose your tier honestly — match the validity to how you really travel, not to the longest option on offer. The 180-day annual cap applies to both the 1-year and 5-year.
- Mind the application window — you can generally apply up to about 120 days before arrival, and no later than four days before. A couple of weeks ahead is the comfortable zone.
- Prepare a compliant photo and passport scan — a plain-background face photo and a clear bio-page scan. Most rejections trace back to image or data mismatches here.
- Check the live fee before paying — the schedule is published per nationality and revised periodically. Read the amount on the portal, not from a blog.
- Track the authorisation, then carry the printout — wait for the grant by email and travel with a printed copy alongside your passport.
One more piece that is easy to miss at the border: arriving travellers file India's e-Arrival Card online within 72 hours before landing — and that applies to OCI cardholders too, not just visa holders. We cover it in India e-arrival card mandatory 2026.
Frequently asked questions
When was India's 5-year tourist e-visa restored? In March 2022, not 2026. The long-duration tiers were suspended in March 2020 and reinstated by mission announcement in 2022. Anything dating the restoration to 18 May 2026 — including an earlier version of this page — is repeating an error.
How much is a 5-year Indian e-visa for a UK citizen? US $484, plus 3% on card or 4% via PayPal — roughly £394. The US $80 figure quoted on most sites is the global default rate, not the reciprocal UK one.
How long can I stay in India on a 5-year e-visa? A maximum of 180 days per calendar year, counted across all your visits rather than per visit. It is not a residence permit.
Is a 5-year e-visa better value than OCI? For a British passport holder, no. A lifelong OCI is £247.78 against roughly £394 for one five-year visa, and the OCI never expires and has no annual stay cap. The e-visa only wins if you are not OCI-eligible.
Which tier is cheapest for an occasional trip? The 30-day visa arriving between April and June, at US $10. From July to March the same visa is US $25.
Does a long tourist visa lead to OCI or citizenship? No. It confers no residence rights, no right to work and no path to citizenship.
This guide reflects India's e-Tourist visa tiers, stay limits and the reciprocal fee schedule published at indianvisaonline.gov.in. It has been corrected: the long-duration tourist tiers were restored in March 2022, not on 18 May 2026 as this page previously stated. Rules, fees and timelines change without notice, so verify current details on the official India e-Visa portal↗ before applying. NriDirect is an independent UK agent and is not affiliated with VFS Global, the Bureau of Immigration or the Indian High Commission.
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