TGApplying for an Indian visa yourself: the official portal and where people trip up
You can apply yourself — here is the official portal and how it works. And exactly where people lose money and time.
You can apply for an Indian e-visa yourself, with no intermediary. Here is the honest version: where it is done, how long it takes and what you will run into. And at the end — where people usually lose money, so you can decide with open eyes.
Where the official site is
The only government portal is <b>indianvisaonline.gov.in</b>. Everything else that comes up for “Indian visa official site” is either an intermediary (ourselves included) or a copy built to charge you for access to a free form.
How it works
- You register on the portal and fill in the form
- You upload a photograph and your passport page
- You pay the consular fee by card
- You wait for the decision and receive the visa by email
It sounds simple. In practice each of the four steps has its own trap.
The form is longer than it looks
India's form is one of the most detailed among electronic visas. It asks for citizenship at birth, your mother's maiden name, your father's details, your employer and job title, the countries you have visited in recent years, your address in India and your host's contacts.
Filling it in takes from forty minutes if everything is at hand. A mistake in any field is grounds for refusal, and the consular fee is not refunded. Reapplying means paying again.
The photograph is the most common reason for a return
The requirements are strict: a square frame, a light plain background, the whole face, no glasses or headwear, a specific file-size range. An ordinary selfie or a passport photo almost never fits. The portal checks automatically and returns it without explaining what exactly was wrong.
Payment is where people trip up most
A Russian card cannot pay the fee on the portal. But the problem is wider: the portal does not accept every foreign card either, and a declined payment looks like an ordinary site error, with no reason given. People repeat the payment several times and then find the money was taken while the application never went through.
The portal itself is unreliable
Sessions drop, the form loses what you typed, uploads hang. This is not rare and not your fault — that is how the government system behaves. If you are applying a week before departure, such a glitch becomes a real problem.
When it makes sense to do it yourself
- The trip is more than a month away and you have time in hand
- You have a card that will work
- You are ready to sit down for an hour and fill it in carefully
- The case is ordinary: a tourist, a direct flight, nothing unusual in your history
When not to risk it
- Departure is close and there is no second attempt
- There is nothing to pay with
- You are travelling as a family — a separate form is needed for everyone, children included
- Your history needs careful wording: a changed surname, trips to countries neighbouring India, work in certain fields
We do this every day: fill in the form, bring the photograph up to the portal's requirements, pay the fee and see the application through to the issued visa. If something breaks on the portal's side, we deal with it — not you, the day before departure.