Effective 22 September and confirmed by media reports on 29 September, India’s e-Visa portal now lets foreign travellers move an existing one-year or five-year e-Visa—or Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA)—to a newly issued passport. Until now, visitors who had renewed or lost their passport had to carry both documents or re-apply from scratch. Under the new “Transfer of eVisa/ETA on New Passport” workflow, applicants upload the biographic page of the new passport, a recent photo and choose a reason (loss, theft, non-return) for the transfer. Short-duration e-Visas (30-day and three-month) are excluded. The feature is aimed at business travellers and long-stay visitors who frequently renew passports mid-validity; it also benefits medical-visa holders whose treatment schedules span several years. The Ministry of Home Affairs has not yet published the turnaround time or fee schedule, but practitioners expect processing to mirror the standard e-Visa timeline of 24–72 hours. Immigration consultants say the change will reduce manual overrides at airports, where mismatched passport numbers often trigger secondary inspections and missed connections. Airlines are likely to update their Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) guidance to require the new passport number once the transfer confirmation is received. For corporate mobility teams, the upgrade offers a compliance win. Travel managers should audit passport-expiry dates for frequent India travellers and encourage timely e-Visa transfers to avoid last-minute trip cancellations. Global assignment policies may also be updated to reimburse transfer-processing fees alongside standard visa costs.
Source: Business Today
