Surat: A long awaited e-visa facility is started at Surat International Airport. This facility will benefit passengers, airlines and immigration, as the facility requires less paper work resulting faster processing, global accessibility and enhanced security. With this, two airports in Gujarat, Ahmedabad and Surat are now having e-visa facility. The central government recently issued a notification completing the procedural work to grant e-visa facility to Surat airport and Kandla port.

The e-Visa facility in India is available at 31 designated airports and 5 designated seaports. These include major international airports and some regional airports. The e-Visa allows for entry into India through these designated points. Airport with e-visa facilities so far are – Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bagdogra, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Calicut, Chennai, Chandigarh, Cochin, Coimbatore, Delhi, Gaya, Goa (Dabolim), Goa (Mopa), Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kannur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Madurai, Mangalore, Mumbai, Nagpur, Port Blair, Pune, Tiruchirapalli, Trivandrum, Varanasi, and Visakhapatnam. Now Surat is added to this list.

If you arrive in India with an e-Visa at a non-designated airport, you are likely be denied entry. E-Visas are specifically issued for entry at authorized airports and seaports. If you’re planning to enter through an airport not on the list, you’ll need a regular visa. Surat airport had witnessed such incidents once or twice, triggering demand for grant of e-visa status to the airport last year. The central government worked promptly on this demand and now has ensured designated airport for e-visa.

Ministry of Home Affairs through a gazette notification dated May 19th, 2025 declared: In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-clause (2) of clause 2 of the Foreigners Order, 1948 and in supersession of Notification No. S.O. 2394(E) dated 01.06.2018, the Central Government hereby appoints
the Chief Immigration Officer, Bureau of Immigration, as the “Civil Authority” for the purpose of the said Order for the Immigration Check Post located at Surat Airport, in the jurisdiction of State of Gujarat with effect from 19th May, 2025

Similar notification was also released for the same at Kandla port in Gujarat. DeshGujarat