India Introduces New Digital E‑arrival Card For International Travellers, Impacting Australian Tourism: All You Need To Know

Published on October 26, 2025

From October 1, 2025, overseas nationals travelling to India, including Australian visitors and OCI cardholders, will look a streamlined introduction process arsenic nan Indian authorities replaces accepted paper-based presence forms pinch nan new digital e‑Arrival Card. The initiative, introduced by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Bureau of Immigration (BoI) under the Immigration, Visa, Foreigners Registration and Tracking (IVFRT) system, intends to modernise separator procedures, trim paperwork, and heighten rider acquisition astatine Indian airports.​

The e‑Arrival Card tin beryllium completed online up to seventy-two hours earlier arrival via nan official Indian Visa Online platform aliases the Su‑Swagatam mobile app. Travellers will request to participate applicable details, including passport information, recreation route, section contact, and accommodation reside successful India. The betterment is portion of India’s integer translator strategy for migration and tourism, ensuring quicker processing and improved security.

Transition Period and Who Must Complete nan e‑Arrival Card

According to the Bureau of Immigration (boi.gov.in), nan integer paper will be mandatory for each overseas nationals and Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders starting October 2025.​

• Foreign nationals, including Australians, arriving for tourism, business, study, aliases employment, must complete nan online e‑Arrival Card earlier travelling.
• OCI cardholders, who were antecedently exempted from filling beingness forms, will now besides request to complete nan e‑Arrival Card for entry.
• Indian citizens remain exempt from this requirement.

To guarantee a soft transition, India will continue accepting beingness presence cards for a six‑month period, though travellers are encouraged to usage nan online strategy for faster clearance. This dual strategy will stay until March 2026, aft which integer submission is expected to go standard.

Step‑by‑Step Guide for Travellers

The exertion process for India’s e‑Arrival Card has been simplified to minimise pre‑travel accent and waiting times upon arrival. Travellers tin entree nan strategy via the official Bureau of Immigration aliases Indian Visa Online portal and complete nan pursuing steps :​

1. Visit nan charismatic platform: Indian Visa Online astatine indianvisaonline.gov.in aliases nan Su‑Swagatam app.
2. Enter recreation details: Include passport number, nationality, presence date, and formation number.
3. Provide interaction data: Add your accommodation reside successful India and emergency interaction details.
4. Review and submit: Confirm each accusation earlier submission to debar delays astatine immigration.
5. Download confirmation: Travellers should people aliases digitally prevention nan acknowledgment for position erstwhile requested astatine introduction checkpoints.

Forms tin cover up to 5 family members in 1 application, further streamlining group aliases family visits.

Benefits of nan Digital Arrival Card

Indian authorities, supported by nan MHA, emphasise that nan e‑Arrival Card is designed to simplify presence processes while strengthening separator guidance and information accuracy. The paperless strategy improves ratio by digitally capturing recreation specifications earlier arrival, allowing smoother travel done migration counters, peculiarly successful engaged world gateways specified as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Chennai airports.​

Officials statement that by digitising nan disembarkation process, India joins different world destinations—such as Thailand, Singapore, and Australia, that person adopted physics migration systems. The advantages include:

• Reduced waiting time at migration checkpoints.
• Real‑time tracking of visitant accusation to heighten separator security.
• Less paperwork for visitors and business travellers.
• Accessibility crossed devices, pinch mobile and desktop versions of nan platform.

India’s push toward technological upgrades aligns pinch nan broader National e‑Governance Plan, which intends to make recreation and migration systems much user‑friendly and integrated nether nan IVFRT initiative.​

Increased Travel From Australia and Connectivity Boost

For Australians, nan caller e‑Arrival strategy coincides pinch a important summation in visitor recreation to India. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics and DFAT, India ranked tenth among nan astir visited world destinations for Australian travellers successful August 2025, with 28,690 visitors, up from 26,570 successful August 2024. This surge follows rising business, tourism, and family‑visit travel, arsenic good arsenic strengthened economical ties betwixt nan 2 nations.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has updated its Smartraveller advisory to bespeak nan caller introduction requirement. It advises Australian travellers to complete nan e‑Arrival Card up to three days earlier travel and support a valid Indian visa aliases OCI card.

Australians tin use for tourist e‑Visas valid for thirty days, 1 year, aliases 5 years via the Indian Visa Online portal. DFAT continues to urge travellers “exercise a precocious grade of caution” owed to section information concerns, though India remains a preferred destination for some leisure and business travellers.​

Strengthening Economic and Tourism Relations

India’s take of a integer introduction strategy arrives during a play of grounds aerial recreation maturation betwixt nan 2 countries. Data from Flight Centre Travel Group’s Corporate Traveller divisionindicates that air capacity betwixt Australia and India has surged by 3 100 forty-six percent compared pinch pre‑pandemic levels, making it the fastest betterment complaint of immoderate overseas destination for Australian travellers.

This maturation is being further propelled by the codeshare statement betwixt Air India and Virgin Australia, allowing smoother recreation options and amended connectivity between Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and awesome Indian cities for illustration Delhi, Bengaluru, and Mumbai. Such improvements, on pinch simplified integer migration procedures, thief reenforce bilateral ties and promote reciprocal tourism.

How nan Change Impacts Travellers and Tourism

The preamble of nan e‑Arrival Card is expected to enhance visitant convenience and efficiency, importantly reducing clip spent connected migration formalities. For tourists, this alteration eliminates nan request to capable forms successful crowded presence halls, cutting queuing times and allowing smoother transitions to airdrome transfers and home connections.

From a tourism perspective, nan government’s integer invention intends to make nan presence process as customer‑focused and modern arsenic India’s airdrome infrastructure, which now includes world‑class terminals like Delhi’s IGI T3 and Mumbai’s T2. With world recreation and overseas tourer arrivals now exceeding pre‑pandemic benchmarks, this betterment strengthens India’s position arsenic a top Asian recreation destination for Australians and world visitors alike.

A Seamless Entry Experience for nan Future

By adopting the e‑Arrival Card, India is aligning pinch world champion practices for traveller facilitation and information security. As nan world’s most populous country and 1 of nan fastest‑growing tourism markets, India’s integer separator modernisation reflects its committedness to embracing exertion and expanding world tourism successful tandem.

For Australian travellers, nan caller introduction process represents an opportunity to acquisition India’s diversity, from the Taj Mahal and Jaipur’s palaces to Kerala’s backwaters and Goa’s coastline, done a much efficient, tech‑driven gateway experience.

With rising formation capacity, increasing bilateral travel, and a simplified introduction process, India’s tourism scenery is perfectly positioned for continued maturation into 2026, welcoming visitors from astir nan world to research its cultural, spiritual, and modern wonders.