Pakistani citizens cannot avail themselves of India’s e-visa facility, even after the Centre added 11 more international ports for e-visa holders, including Attari (Road) on the India-Pakistan border in Punjab. The latest expansion takes the total number of international entry points for e-visa holders to 88, comprising 37 airports, 38 seaports and 13 land ports, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The new facility will be available to foreigners other than Pakistani citizens. India does not grant e-visas to people holding Pakistani passports or those of Pakistani origin. The Indian visa application portal states: “They may please apply for a regular visa at the Indian Mission.”
The addition of Attari (Road) has brought an India-Pakistan land border point into the expanded list, but it does not change the rules for Pakistani travellers. As per reports, the other newly added land ports are Darranga, Gede, Ghojadanga, Haridaspur, Jaigaon, Dawki and Moreh. Raxaul, Rupaidiha and Jogbani were already included.
The two newly added airports are Bhopal and Tirupati. The expanded airport network also includes Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bagdogra, Bhogapuram, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Calicut, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Delhi, Gaya, Goa-Dabolim, Goa-Mopa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kannur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Madurai, Mangalore, Mumbai, Nagpur, Navi Mumbai, Port Blair, Pune, Surat, Thiruvananthapuram, Trichy, Varanasi, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.
The India e-visa facility is currently available across 17 sub-categories, including tourist, medical, student, mountaineering, cruise, transit, group travel and business visas. Around 95 per cent of applications are processed within 72 hours, with the latest expansion expected to make the electronic visa more useful and attractive to eligible foreign travellers.
As per reports, India has also extended e-visa entry to 38 seaports. These include Agatti, Alang, Bedi Bandar, Bhavnagar, Calicut, Chennai, Cochin, Cuddalore, Dahej, Dhamra, Haldia, Hazira, Kakinada, Ennore-Kamarajar, Kandla, Karaikal, Kattupalli, Kolkata, Kollam, Krishnapatnam, Mandvi, Mormugao, Mumbai, Mundra, Nagapattinam, New Mangalore, Nhava Sheva, Paradeep, Pipavav, Porbandar, Port Blair, Sikka, Tuna Tekra, Tuticorin, Vallarpadam, Visakhapatnam, Vizhinjam-Kovalam and Vizhinjam.
India introduced the India e-visa system in 2014 to simplify the visa process for nationals of 43 countries. The facility has since expanded significantly and now serves citizens from 172 countries.
Despite the wider network, Pakistani passport holders and people of Pakistani origin remain outside the e-visa system. For them, the government’s stated route remains applying for a regular visa through an Indian Mission.
Khalid Lateef is a Sub-Editor at NewsX Digital, specializing in Indian politics and global affairs. He also covers viral trending stories and major crime developments.
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