India’s Ministry of Tourism has quietly—but decisively—added nine more nationalities to its fast-growing e-Tourist Visa (e-TV) programme, taking the total coverage to 166 countries as of 8 February 2026. The change, first spotted in an update to the ministry’s website and confirmed by industry portal Travel Trade Today, extends eligibility to visitors from Kenya, Algeria, Fiji, Uruguay, Armenia and four other states.(traveltrade.today)
The move is part of a five-year digital-service overhaul that has already driven a sharp rebound in foreign tourist arrivals and corporate MICE travel. Travellers complete the entire application online, pay electronically and normally receive authorisation within 72 hours. For mobility managers, the main attraction is consistency: the 30-day double-entry e-TV rules are identical for all 166 nationalities, greatly simplifying pre-trip compliance checks for multi-country project teams.
Indian travel-tech firms are expected to capitalise on the broader addressable market. Several leading visa facilitation platforms told Global Mobility News they will embed the new nationality list in their APIs this week, giving corporates near-real-time eligibility look-ups inside booking tools and expense apps.
![India Expands e-Tourist Visa to 166 Countries, Opening Wider Door for Business and Leisure]()
VisaHQ’s online visa management platform can help both individual travelers and corporate mobility teams navigate India’s e-Tourist Visa with confidence. From the India-specific portal (https://www.visahq.com/india/), users can verify eligibility, upload documents, track application status and receive prompt alerts if additional information is needed—reducing administrative workload and minimizing application errors.
Tour operators anticipate a mid-single-digit boost to inbound leisure traffic in the next 12 months, but the bigger prize lies in business travel. “Our RFP pipeline from African and Latin American corporates has doubled since the visa news leaked,” said a Mumbai-based DMC executive, noting growing interest in India for advanced manufacturing and healthcare outsourcing site visits.
For HR and mobility teams, practical next steps include updating assignment policy handbooks, refreshing destination briefings and double-checking that travellers from newly covered countries apply for e-TVs rather than costlier sticker visas. Indian host entities must also remind visitors that the 30-day limit cannot be extended onshore and that work activities beyond permitted business meetings still require an Employment Visa.
The move is part of a five-year digital-service overhaul that has already driven a sharp rebound in foreign tourist arrivals and corporate MICE travel. Travellers complete the entire application online, pay electronically and normally receive authorisation within 72 hours. For mobility managers, the main attraction is consistency: the 30-day double-entry e-TV rules are identical for all 166 nationalities, greatly simplifying pre-trip compliance checks for multi-country project teams.
Indian travel-tech firms are expected to capitalise on the broader addressable market. Several leading visa facilitation platforms told Global Mobility News they will embed the new nationality list in their APIs this week, giving corporates near-real-time eligibility look-ups inside booking tools and expense apps.
VisaHQ’s online visa management platform can help both individual travelers and corporate mobility teams navigate India’s e-Tourist Visa with confidence. From the India-specific portal (https://www.visahq.com/india/), users can verify eligibility, upload documents, track application status and receive prompt alerts if additional information is needed—reducing administrative workload and minimizing application errors.
Tour operators anticipate a mid-single-digit boost to inbound leisure traffic in the next 12 months, but the bigger prize lies in business travel. “Our RFP pipeline from African and Latin American corporates has doubled since the visa news leaked,” said a Mumbai-based DMC executive, noting growing interest in India for advanced manufacturing and healthcare outsourcing site visits.
For HR and mobility teams, practical next steps include updating assignment policy handbooks, refreshing destination briefings and double-checking that travellers from newly covered countries apply for e-TVs rather than costlier sticker visas. Indian host entities must also remind visitors that the 30-day limit cannot be extended onshore and that work activities beyond permitted business meetings still require an Employment Visa.
