Do Emirati passport holders need a visa for India?

Yes, and Emirati passport holders have two routes where most nationalities have one. India grants a visa on arrival to just three nationalities, Japan, South Korea and the UAE, but the Emirati case carries a condition the other two do not: it is open only to those who have already obtained an Indian e-Visa or a regular paper visa at some point. On a first trip to India, the route is the e-Visa applied for online.

Visa required

Yes

e-Visa

Available, the UAE is entry 163 on the eligible list

Visa on arrival

Only if you have previously held an Indian visa

Nationalities with VoA

Japan, South Korea and the UAE only

e-Visa entry points

36 airports, 12 land ports, 38 cruise seaports

e-Visa limits

Non-extendable and non-convertible

Entry requirements

• An Emirati passport valid at least six months from the date of arrival, which the visa portal applies to accompanying children as well as adults.
• For a first trip, an e-Visa applied for online at indianvisaonline.gov.in and an Electronic Travel Authorisation granted before you fly.
• For the visa on arrival, evidence that you have previously held an Indian e-Visa or a regular paper visa, since the facility is written around that history rather than around the passport alone.
• Arrival at one of the designated entry points if you are travelling on an e-Visa. The portal’s authorised checkpost schedule lists 36 airports, twelve land ports and 38 seaports, the last headed as being for cruise tourists, and an e-Visa admits you only through those.

The visa on arrival is a second-trip facility

India’s own visa portal answers this directly. Asked whether a traveller can get a visa on arrival at Indian airports and seaports, it replies that the facility "is only for the nationals of Japan, South Korea and UAE (only for such UAE nationals who had earlier obtained e-Visa or regular/paper visa for India)". The parenthesis is the whole story: Japanese and South Korean nationals qualify on nationality, Emirati nationals qualify on nationality plus a prior Indian visa.

So a first visit runs on the e-Visa. The UAE sits at entry 163 of the 174 nationalities eligible for it, the application is made online, and you wait for the Electronic Travel Authorisation to be granted before travelling. The portal is explicit that for every eligible nationality other than the three above, waiting for that grant is the only route.

Once you have that first Indian visa behind you, the visa on arrival becomes available for later trips. It is worth keeping the old passport or a copy if the visa was issued in one, since the facility turns on a history that has to be demonstrable rather than merely true.

Good to know

• The visa on arrival is not a shortcut for a first visit, which is the opposite of how people read it. Every summary of Indian entry rules lists the UAE alongside Japan and South Korea and stops there, so an Emirati traveller planning a first trip books flights on the understanding that a counter at the airport will handle it. India’s condition is that you must already have obtained an Indian e-Visa or a regular paper visa. The facility rewards a travel history rather than a nationality, and there is no way to acquire that history at the border.
• Three nationalities out of the whole world have this at all, so generic advice about India is almost never about you. The portal names Japan, South Korea and the UAE, and says that nationals of every other eligible country must apply online and wait for the authorisation to be granted. That makes an Emirati passport unusually well placed for repeat travel to India and no better placed than anyone else for a first trip, which is a distinction most sources flatten into a single line about visa on arrival being available.
• The portal contradicts itself about land borders, and the schedule is the half to trust. Its FAQ answers a direct question about entering India overland on an e-Visa with a flat no, saying you can only come in through the listed airports and seaports. Its own Authorized Immigration Checkposts schedule, on the same site, lists twelve land ports under Entry Points: Raxaul, Rupaidiha, Darranga, Jogbani, Agartala, Gede, Ghojadanga, Haridaspur, Jaigaon, Dawki, Moreh and Attari. The schedule is the operative list and the FAQ text reads as legacy, but a traveller planning an overland entry should confirm with the carrier or the check post rather than rely on either page alone.
• Entry is restricted, departure is not, and the gap is wide. An e-Visa admits you through the scheduled points only, 36 airports, twelve land ports and 38 seaports listed for cruise tourists. Leaving is the opposite: the portal says you may depart from any Indian Immigration Check Post, and its exit schedule runs to thirty-four land crossings and five rail check posts that are nowhere on the entry list. So an overland exit toward Nepal or Bhutan is straightforward on an e-Visa you flew in on, while the same crossing inbound has to appear on the shorter entry list.
• An e-Visa cannot be stretched or changed once you are inside India. The portal states it is non-extendable and non-convertible, so a tourist e-Visa does not become a business or medical visa because your plans changed after arrival: you leave and apply again. One thing that is forgiving is a new passport. If your authorisation was issued against a passport you have since replaced, entry may still be allowed on the new one provided you carry the old passport it was issued against.

Frequently asked questions

Related pages

• Do Nepali citizens need a visa for India?
• Do Nigerian citizens need a visa for India?
• Do Thai citizens need a visa for the UAE?
• Check visa requirements for any passport

Other passports for India

• Argentina passport holders visiting India
• Australia passport holders visiting India
• Tunisia passport holders visiting India

Sources

Every fact on this page was checked against the official sources below on 31 August 2026.

• Government of India, Indian Visa Online e-Visa portal, FAQ Q25: "Can I get Visa on Arrival(VoA) at Indian Airports/Seaport? Ans- The Visa on Arrival facility is only for the nationals of Japan, South Korea and UAE (only for such UAE nationals who had earlier obtained e-Visa or regular/paper visa for India). For the nationals of all other countries eligible for e-Visa, the e-visa application have to be filled online and the applicant must wait till the confirmation/Grant of ETA for travelling to India." Read 2026-08-31. https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/evisa/tvoa.html
• Same portal, list of nationalities eligible for the e-Visa: 174 entries, with the UAE at entry 163. Read 2026-08-31.
• Same portal, "Authorized Immigration Checkposts" schedule. Entry Points: "Persons holding eVisa will be allowed to enter into India only through the designated international airports (36)"; "eVisa facility is also been provided for entry at 38 major Indian seaport for cruise tourists"; and a Landport list of twelve, namely Raxaul, Rupaidiha, Darranga, Jogbani, Agartala, Gede, Ghojadanga, Haridaspur, Jaigaon, Dawki, Moreh and Attari. Exit Points separately list airports, thirty-four land ICPs, seaports and five rail ICPs. Read 2026-08-31.
• Same portal, FAQ Q11 and Q23, which conflict with the schedule above and appear to be legacy text: Q11 gives "33 designated Airports" and "19 designated seaports" and states "You may depart from any of the Indian Immigration Check Posts (ICPs)"; Q23 answers a question about land-border entry with "No, You can only enter through the designated airports/seaports which are listed on the e-Visa website." Where the two disagree this page follows the checkpost schedule and says so. Read 2026-08-31.
• Same portal, FAQ Q10: "e-Visa is non-extendable and non-convertible." FAQ Q22: entry may be allowed on a new passport where the authorisation was issued on an old one, on condition that both passports are carried. FAQ Q12: the passport must be valid at least six months from the date of arrival. Read 2026-08-31.

Entry rules change without notice and the official source is always the authority. Confirm with the embassy or immigration portal before you book.