A detailed guide published on 13 March 2026 in the r/Visas community highlights India’s refreshed electronic-visa (e-Visa) platform for Canadian travellers, underscoring that applications can now be completed entirely online in under 15 minutes.
![India Re-Opens Streamlined e-Visa Portal, Reminds Canadians of Updated Fees and Stay Limits]()
If you’d rather have experts handle the process, VisaHQ’s Canada office can review your documents, pre-fill the Indian e-Visa form and submit it on your behalf—often the same day—dramatically reducing the risk of errors or rejection. Their step-by-step support is available at https://www.visahq.com/canada/
The post comes six months after Ottawa and New Delhi normalised consular staffing levels, ending the backlog that followed the 2023 diplomatic row over the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Under the 2026 rules, Canadians may choose 30-day (CAD $100), one-year (CAD $212) or five-year (CAD $267) e-tourist visas, each allowing multiple entries with respective maximum stays of 90 or 180 days per visit. Business travellers can secure a separate e-Business visa valid for 365 days with multiple entries and cumulative stays of up to 180 days. Processing times remain 72 hours for standard service, with 24-hour express options available at extra cost. The reminder is timely for global-mobility teams because India restored reciprocal biometric enrolment at its Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa consulates in February, meaning Canadians can again switch to traditional sticker visas where longer continuous stays or in-country conversion to employment status are required. However, the e-Visa suits most short-term project assignments and avoids couriering passports. HR managers sending staff to India should note two compliance points. First, the e-Visa activation window begins on the *date of issue* (not entry), so scheduling must allow for validity overlap. Second, overstay penalties were increased on 1 January 2026 to ₹10,000 for the first day and ₹500 per additional day. Insurance carriers are also asking employers to reconfirm emergency-medical coverage for e-Visa holders, who do not benefit from India’s social-security agreements. Travel-volume forecasts suggest more than 350,000 Canadian residents will visit India in 2026, surpassing pre-pandemic records. With tour operators bundling e-Visa support into packages and airlines adding frequencies on the Toronto–Delhi corridor, ensuring employees use the correct visa category has become a mission-critical compliance task for Canadian multinationals.
If you’d rather have experts handle the process, VisaHQ’s Canada office can review your documents, pre-fill the Indian e-Visa form and submit it on your behalf—often the same day—dramatically reducing the risk of errors or rejection. Their step-by-step support is available at https://www.visahq.com/canada/
The post comes six months after Ottawa and New Delhi normalised consular staffing levels, ending the backlog that followed the 2023 diplomatic row over the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Under the 2026 rules, Canadians may choose 30-day (CAD $100), one-year (CAD $212) or five-year (CAD $267) e-tourist visas, each allowing multiple entries with respective maximum stays of 90 or 180 days per visit. Business travellers can secure a separate e-Business visa valid for 365 days with multiple entries and cumulative stays of up to 180 days. Processing times remain 72 hours for standard service, with 24-hour express options available at extra cost. The reminder is timely for global-mobility teams because India restored reciprocal biometric enrolment at its Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa consulates in February, meaning Canadians can again switch to traditional sticker visas where longer continuous stays or in-country conversion to employment status are required. However, the e-Visa suits most short-term project assignments and avoids couriering passports. HR managers sending staff to India should note two compliance points. First, the e-Visa activation window begins on the *date of issue* (not entry), so scheduling must allow for validity overlap. Second, overstay penalties were increased on 1 January 2026 to ₹10,000 for the first day and ₹500 per additional day. Insurance carriers are also asking employers to reconfirm emergency-medical coverage for e-Visa holders, who do not benefit from India’s social-security agreements. Travel-volume forecasts suggest more than 350,000 Canadian residents will visit India in 2026, surpassing pre-pandemic records. With tour operators bundling e-Visa support into packages and airlines adding frequencies on the Toronto–Delhi corridor, ensuring employees use the correct visa category has become a mission-critical compliance task for Canadian multinationals.
