If you hold a foreign passport or an OCI card, filling out a paper form on the plane is no longer an option — and skipping the new digital step can hold you up at the boarding gate.
Since 1 April 2026, India requires every foreign national to submit an online e-Arrival Card within 72 hours before landing. The decades-old paper disembarkation card handed out on flights is gone for good. This guide explains exactly who must file, when, what information you need, and how to avoid the mistakes that trip travellers up at immigration.

In short: The India e-Arrival Card is a free, online declaration of your arrival details. All foreign nationals and OCI cardholders must submit it within 72 hours before their scheduled arrival in India, save the QR code it generates, and show that code at check-in and immigration. Indian passport holders are exempt.

What is the e-Arrival Card?

The e-Arrival Card is the digital replacement for the paper disembarkation card that airlines distributed on India-bound flights for decades. It is a short online form that captures your basic biographical data, passport and visa details, flight information, purpose of visit, address in India, and recent travel history. Once you submit it, the system generates a QR-coded acknowledgement that immigration officers scan on arrival.

It is important to understand what the e-Arrival Card is not. It is not a visa, and it does not replace your Indian visa, e-Visa, or OCI card. You still need a valid travel document and the correct visa to enter India. The e-Arrival Card is a separate, mandatory declaration filed in addition to your visa — think of it as a quick digital check-in that pre-registers your arrival details with India's Bureau of Immigration.

Why the change, and when did it happen?

India rolled the change out in stages, so travellers who read older advice may be confused about the current rules. Here is the timeline that matters:

• 1 October 2025: The e-Arrival Card became mandatory for foreign nationals, with a six-month transition period during which paper cards were still accepted.
• 4 October 2025: OCI cardholders — briefly announced as exempt when the system launched — were brought back into the requirement. If you hold an OCI card, you must file.
• 1 April 2026: The transition ended. Paper disembarkation cards were permanently discontinued. The digital e-Arrival Card is now the only route.

The move is part of India's broader push to modernise its borders and pre-validate arrivals, in line with digital-arrival systems used by countries like Singapore, Australia, and the UAE. By collecting biographic data before a passenger lands, immigration can process arrivals faster and track foreign entries in real time.

Who must file — and who is exempt?

The requirement is broad. You must submit an e-Arrival Card if you are:

• A tourist on an e-Visa, regular tourist visa, or visa on arrival
• A business traveller on a business visa or e-Business visa
• A student, medical visitor, or conference/event attendee
• An OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) cardholder
• A foreign passport holder entering by air, sea, or land border
• A dual national entering India on a foreign passport (even alongside an OCI card)

Who is exempt: Only Indian citizens holding a valid Indian passport are exempt from the e-Arrival Card. Transit passengers who remain inside the international transit area and do not clear immigration are also generally exempt — but anyone passing through immigration, including on a long layover, must file.

Families and children: Each traveller needs their own separate e-Arrival Card, including children and infants. A parent or guardian can complete the form on behalf of a minor, but there is no single combined submission that covers everyone — every person entering India needs their own record and their own QR code.

When to file: the 72-hour window

The submission window is one of the most misunderstood parts of the rule. You may submit the e-Arrival Card no earlier than 72 hours (three days) before your scheduled arrival in India, and no later than your arrival time. Filing too early is not advisable because a change of flight could force you to resubmit, and filing too late risks being stopped at check-in.

A crucial detail for anyone with a layover: the 72-hour window refers to your final arrival in India, not the departure of your first flight. If you have a connecting itinerary, count backwards from when you land in India, and submit before you begin travelling. Most travellers complete the form comfortably in the 24–48 hour range before departure.

Where to file (and where NOT to)

The e-Arrival Card is filed only through official government channels, and it is completely free of charge. There are three official routes:

• The Bureau of Immigration portal — boi.gov.in
• The Indian Visa Online portal — Indianvisaonline.gov.in/earrival
• The official "Indian Visa Su-Swagatam" mobile app

Because the form is free, be cautious of any third-party site that charges a fee purely to submit the arrival card on your behalf or that mimics the official portal. The declaration itself carries no government fee. (A legitimate documentation service may charge a service fee for handling and support — but the government portal never charges for the e-Arrival Card itself.)

What information you need before you start

The form takes roughly 5–15 minutes once you have everything ready. Keep these details on hand:

• Full name exactly as printed in your passport
• Passport number, and issue/expiry details
• Nationality, date of birth, and gender
• Flight number, scheduled arrival date, and arrival airport in India
• Purpose of visit and intended duration of stay
• Your address in India (hotel name or the contact person you're staying with)
• Contact email and phone number, plus an emergency contact
• Recent travel history — countries visited in the days before arrival (a health/travel self-declaration)

Accuracy matters. The details on your e-Arrival Card should match your passport and visa exactly. A mismatched name or passport number can lead to extra questioning at the counter.

Step-by-step: how to complete it

1 · Open the official portal or app. — within the 72-hour window.

2 · Enter your details. Fill in passport, flight, visit purpose, address in India, and travel history. Double-check everything against your passport.

3 · Submit and save the QR code. After you submit the final declaration, the system generates a confirmation with a unique QR code. Save it immediately — screenshot it and, ideally, print a backup.

4 · Show it at check-in and immigration. Airlines increasingly check for the QR code before boarding, and immigration officers scan it on arrival to pull up your record.

The one mistake that catches travellers out

Here is the trap we keep seeing reported: once you submit, the QR code / confirmation is often displayed only once. If you close the browser tab without downloading or screenshotting it, retrieving it can be difficult — the portal does not always email a PDF copy, and there is no public passport-number lookup to recover a lost code. Some travellers then submit a fresh form, which can create a duplicate record and confusion at the desk.

The fixes are simple but easy to forget:

• Screenshot the QR code the moment it appears, then save a copy somewhere you can reach without internet.
• Print a physical backup — phones die, screens glare, and a smudged screen can slow a scan.
• If you genuinely lose it, check your email spam folder first before considering a resubmission with identical details.

What happens if you don't file?

The e-Arrival Card is mandatory, and airlines have updated their check-in flows to flag passengers who cannot produce a QR code. In practice, not filing can mean being stopped at check-in or pulled aside at immigration for extra processing — turning a smooth arrival into a stressful one. With major airports enforcing the rule and the paper option gone entirely, the safest approach is to treat the e-Arrival Card as a non-negotiable part of your pre-trip checklist, right alongside your passport and visa.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Is the e-Arrival Card the same as a visa?
No. The e-Arrival Card is a separate mandatory declaration of your arrival details. It does not replace your Indian visa, e-Visa, or OCI card — you still need valid travel documents and the correct visa to enter India.

2. Who has to fill out the e-Arrival Card?
All foreign passport holders and OCI cardholders entering India — tourists, business visitors, students, medical travellers, and family visitors. Only Indian citizens holding an Indian passport are exempt.

3. Do OCI cardholders really need to file?
Yes. OCI holders were briefly exempt when the system launched on 1 October 2025, but that exemption was reversed on 4 October 2025. If you hold an OCI card and travel on a foreign passport, you must file.

4. When exactly should I submit it?
Within 72 hours (three days) before your scheduled arrival in India — no earlier and no later. If you have a connecting flight, count the 72 hours from your final arrival in India, not your first departure.

5. How much does it cost?
The e-Arrival Card itself is free on the official government portals. Be wary of any site charging a government fee to file it — there is none.

6. Where do I file it?
On the Bureau of Immigration site (boi.gov.in), the Indian Visa Online portal (indianvisaonline.gov.in/earrival), or the official "Indian Visa Su-Swagatam" mobile app. These are the only official channels.

7. What information do I need ready?
Your passport details, nationality, date of birth, flight number and arrival airport, purpose of visit, duration of stay, address in India, contact and emergency details, and recent travel history.

8. Does each family member need a separate card?
Yes. Every traveller needs their own e-Arrival Card and QR code, including children and infants. A parent or guardian can complete the form for a minor.

9. What if I lose my QR code?
Check your email spam folder first. If it is genuinely lost, you can resubmit the form with the same details to generate a new QR code — but save it carefully this time, as the portal may display it only once.

10. What happens if I arrive without filing?
You may be stopped at airline check-in or pulled aside at immigration for extra processing. The paper form no longer exists as a fallback, so filing before you travel is the only reliable way to avoid delays.

Rules and portals are set by India's Bureau of Immigration and can change. Always confirm the latest requirements on the official government portal before you travel.