India has widened its Visa-on-Arrival (VoA) scheme for United Arab Emirates citizens, adding Kochi, Calicut and Ahmedabad to the six existing gateways of Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata. Announced on 20 November 2025 by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the expansion lets eligible Emirati travellers make unlimited short trips of up to 60 days for tourism, business, conferences or medical care.
To qualify, UAE passport-holders must have held an Indian e-Visa or sticker visa at least once before, and cannot have Pakistani origin. The on-arrival fee remains ₹2,000 and allows double entry within the 60-day window. Authorities recommend that first-time visitors still obtain an e-Visa beforehand, then switch to VoA for subsequent trips.
![Visa-on-Arrival for UAE Nationals Now Available at Nine Indian Airports]()
For multinational firms, the change removes a key friction point in project work that spans the fast-growing India–Gulf corridor—especially sectors such as real estate investment, IT services, healthcare and energy. Travel managers should update duty-of-care systems to reflect the new airports, noting that immigration counters for VoA are usually located at dedicated desks that may close during low-traffic hours.
Airlines are equally upbeat: Emirates, Etihad, Air India and IndiGo together operate more than 600 weekly flights between the two countries, and load factors on premium-heavy sectors such as DXB-BOM routinely top 85 percent. With three more Indian airports enabled, carriers expect stronger connectivity to secondary Indian cities via domestic connections.
To qualify, UAE passport-holders must have held an Indian e-Visa or sticker visa at least once before, and cannot have Pakistani origin. The on-arrival fee remains ₹2,000 and allows double entry within the 60-day window. Authorities recommend that first-time visitors still obtain an e-Visa beforehand, then switch to VoA for subsequent trips.
For multinational firms, the change removes a key friction point in project work that spans the fast-growing India–Gulf corridor—especially sectors such as real estate investment, IT services, healthcare and energy. Travel managers should update duty-of-care systems to reflect the new airports, noting that immigration counters for VoA are usually located at dedicated desks that may close during low-traffic hours.
Airlines are equally upbeat: Emirates, Etihad, Air India and IndiGo together operate more than 600 weekly flights between the two countries, and load factors on premium-heavy sectors such as DXB-BOM routinely top 85 percent. With three more Indian airports enabled, carriers expect stronger connectivity to secondary Indian cities via domestic connections.
