The High Commission of India in Nairobi officially rolled out the ‘Indian Visa Su-Swagatam’ Android app just after midnight on 1 October 2026, making Kenya the first mission to pilot India’s new mobile platform for e-Visa services. Built by the National Informatics Centre, the app lets foreign travellers apply for, pay and track e-Visas, and—critically—transfer a valid e-Visa to a new passport, a feature added to the web portal only last week. Travellers receive push notifications at each stage of processing and can store a QR-coded Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) offline for presentation at boarding and immigration counters. The launch aligns with the Home Ministry’s IVFR&T Phase III roadmap, which aims to shift 100 per cent of tourist and business visas to digital channels by 2028. Missions in Singapore, Dubai and London are scheduled to adopt the app later this quarter once language localisations are complete. For mobility managers, the upgrade should reduce the administrative overhead of tracking dozens of visa filings simultaneously—an oft-cited pain point as India’s e-Visa coverage expands to 169 nationalities. The app also integrates with the Fast-Track Immigration–Trusted Traveller Programme (FTI-TTP), allowing eligible repeat visitors to pre-enrol for automated e-gates at 13 airports. However, data-protection lawyers caution that the app currently falls outside India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2025 because it targets non-residents; explicit consent for biometric sharing is still on an opt-in basis. The Ministry says a revised privacy notice will be pushed in the next update.
