Rulebook / Visas & entry / India
India Tourist Visa
- Day threshold
- 90 days
- Window
- Each single stay
- Direction
- Ceiling — stay at or below
- Counts
- Days in India; arrival and departure days both count
- Authority
- Bureau of Immigration, India
India Tourist Visa caps your time in India at 90 days per visit. The statute attaches its consequence at 91 days or more, so 90 is the last safe count.
Who it applies to
This matters most if you are:
- A visitor on a short-stay visa or visa waiver making several trips a year.
- A long-term traveller stitching stays together and losing track of the cumulative count.
- Anyone booking a return trip who needs to know the last day they may legally stay.
The rule — and why it exists
India visit length. At most 90 days in India per visit — written as <=90 / VISIT.
India days per year. At most 180 days in India per calendar year — written as <=180 / YEAR.
Both limits must hold at the same time; the calculator checks each.
Why it exists: a short-stay allowance is a promise to leave. The cap, and the way it is counted, is what lets a state admit visitors without treating every visit as immigration.
Counting the days
- Count the days of each stay in India on its own, arrival and departure days included.
- No single stay may exceed 90 days.
- Leaving and re-entering starts a new stay — but frequent or back-to-back visits invite refusal as a de facto resident.
The free calculator below counts this rule with the same engine the Dwelltime app ships.
Check it with the free tool
Examples
Example 1 — A stay of 80 days
Stays: India 2026-03-01 → 2026-05-19. Checked on 2026-05-19.
Result: India visit length: 10 of 90 days left (80 used in India).
Example 2 — A stay of 95 days
Stays: India 2026-03-01 → 2026-06-03. Checked on 2026-06-03.
Result: India visit length: over the limit — 95 of 90 days, first exceeded 2026-05-30.
Example 3 — Two visits of 62 days each
Stays: India 2026-01-10 → 2026-03-12; India 2026-06-01 → 2026-08-01. Checked on 2026-08-01.
Result: India visit length: 28 of 90 days left (62 used in India).
Exceptions & edge cases
- National visas and residence permits. Days spent under a long-stay visa of that country are usually not short-stay days.
- Transit. Airside transit generally does not count; a day on which you cross the border does.
- Overstays. Even a single day over can mean a ban or refused entry; the engine reports the first breaching day.
Common misconceptions
- "Under 90 days means I'm safe." False — other tests can apply, and the count is only one input.
- "I can chain visits." Each visit is counted alone, but a pattern of back-to-back visits is treated as residence.
- "Arrival day doesn't count." Any part of a day inside is a day inside.
Frequently asked questions
Is the 90-day count per calendar year or rolling?
Each single stay. Each stay is measured on its own.
Do arrival and departure days count?
Yes — any part of a day counts as a day.
Where does this rule come from?
Bureau of Immigration, India: e-Visa — instructions. The link is verified on every build; if it stops resolving the build fails.
This rule is tracked in 
Dwelltime
- Counts your days for this rule from the trips you record
- Shows the last safe day, or the days still needed, before you book
- Explains every counted day and every uncounted one
- Runs alongside your other visa, tax and residency rules
Sources
Related rules
- 🇮🇳Avoid India tax residencyIndia uses 182 days in the previous year, and a second test of 60 days plus 365 days across the four preceding years.
<=181 / YEAR - 🇮🇳Become India tax residentIndia uses 182 days in the previous year, and a second test of 60 days plus 365 days across the four preceding years.
>=182 / YEAR
For information only. This page is a plain-English summary of publicly available rules, not tax, legal or immigration advice. Rules change and depend on your personal circumstances — always confirm with the official source above and a qualified professional before acting.