Visa requirements for Indian citizens

Indian citizens need a Schengen visa, which covers all member states for up to 90 days in any 180-day period.

Of the 198 countries whose entry rules are known in both directions, India and 3 of them let each other’s citizens in without a visa obtained in advance (visa-free, on arrival or with an ETA; an e-visa counts as a visa).

3 countries ask holders of the Indian passport for a visa beforehand, although their own citizens enter India without one: Japan, South Korea and United Arab Emirates.

The reverse holds for 52 countries: holders of the Indian passport get in without a visa obtained in advance, but their citizens need one for India (Angola, Barbados, Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde and 47 others).

88 countries ask holders of the Indian passport for a visa obtained before travel from an embassy, a consulate or a visa centre. 51 of them have an embassy or consulate on record in India.

37 countries have no embassy or career consulate on record in India, so the application usually goes to one of their posts in another country. Counting the post an official diplomatic list names for India, or else the nearest one within 2,000 km, those posts are most often in Pakistan (2) and Nepal (2).

The United States refused 22% of visitor-visa (B1/B2) applications from citizens of India in fiscal year 2025, by the State Department’s adjusted refusal rate. 75 of the 197 nationalities with a published rate had a lower one and 121 a higher one; the middle value was 32%.

Schengen consulates in India refused 16% of short-stay visa applications in 2025 (all Schengen consulates worldwide: 15%). Among the 74 countries where they received at least 10,000 applications, that is the 41st highest rate. The figure counts every nationality applying there, not only citizens.

Visa-free travel with the Indian passport

By continent, the Indian passport is visa-free in 9 countries in Asia, 7 countries in the Americas, 6 countries in Africa and 4 countries in Oceania. The longest visa-free stays for Indian citizens are allowed in Dominica (180 days), Fiji (120 days), Vanuatu (120 days), Barbados (90 days), Grenada (90 days) and the Gambia (90 days).

Visa on arrival

Indian citizens can get a visa at the airport or land border of Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde, the Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau and 19 others.

E-Visa and electronic travel authorisation

An e-Visa, applied for online before the trip, is how Indian citizens enter Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, the Bahamas, Bahrain and 48 others. Ivory Coast, Kenya, Papua New Guinea and Saint Kitts and Nevis ask instead for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), a lighter online check than a visa.

India’s neighbours

Nepal and Bhutan admit Indian citizens without a visa. For the other neighbours, the rules are: China (visa required), Myanmar (visa on arrival for up to 30 days), Pakistan (visa required) and Bangladesh (visa required).

How the passport compares

Among neighbouring passports, the Chinese passport ranks 113th (78 destinations), the Bhutanese passport ranks 165th (50 destinations), the passport of Myanmar ranks 181st (42 destinations), the Nepali passport ranks 190th (37 destinations) and the Bangladeshi passport ranks 193rd (34 destinations). Of the 198 passports in the data, 3 can enter visa-free, 3 get a visa on arrival, 161 need an e-Visa and 31 need a visa from an embassy or consulate for India.