Traveling to different counties or cities are priorities for many people globally, for career, lifestyle change, or tourism. Multiple Indians travel to foreign countries accounting for over 7 million outbound departures by Indians.
To travel to international locations, typically, Indian residents must acquire a visa. However, applying for a visa is a stringent process, with a wide range of complex criteria. Yet, there are multiple visa-free countries for Indian passport holders available where Indians can travel with no visa.
What is Visa-free Travel?
Visa-free travel involves individuals touring another country with no visa. In case two countries have a legal agreement for international visa-free travel. Additionally, visa-free countries for Indian passport holders also include countries with a unilateral international travel rule. To explain, they have no restriction on foreign travel through its borders.
Countries with Visa-free Travel Acceptance
The following are the main visa-free countries for Indian passport holders across the different continents. You can travel to one of these areas for tourism, as per their travel guidelines.
Asia
The countries under Asia that accept no visa travel from India include:
- Bhutan
- Indonesia
- Nepal
- Macao
Africa
For Indians, there are multiple visa-free countries for Indian passport holders in Africa. It is important to mention that the cost of air travel is high for Africa travel. So, travelers need to opt for additional support, if necessary.
- Tunisia
- Mauritius
- Senegal
Europe
Serbia is the only country that allows visa-free entry for Indians in the continent of Europe.
Caribbean
In the Caribbean region, the following countries are the main ones that accept visa-free travel for Indian citizens.
- The British Virgin Islands
- Barbados
- Haiti
- Kitts and Nevis
- Dominica
- Grenada
- Montserrat
- Vincent and the Grenadines
- Trinidad and Tobago
Oceania
Multiple visa-free countries for Indian passport holders exist in Oceania. Here are the main locations that approve the visa-free entry.
- Fiji
- Cook Islands
- Micronesia
- Vanuatu
- Niue Islands
Middle East
The following are currently the main visa-free countries for Indian passport holders to enter without any hassle in the Middle East.
- Qatar
The Americas
It is possible to travel to Bolivia and El Salvador via visa-on-arrival. However, most other locations require a travel visa as a compulsory document.
Rules for Entry to International Countries
The visa-free countries for Indian passport holders have specific regulations to ensure safe travel between the two countries. These rules follow the Covid-19 health safety guidelines for international travel.
- It is important to provide a negative RT-PCR test report.
- Passengers must undergo a compulsory quarantine at an assigned facility in some regions (e.g., Qatar).
- They have to do another test on arrival.
- People vaccinated with a WHO-approved medication can travel to some countries, like the UAE.
- The second dose should have been recent, at least 14 days before the time of travel.
Is it Acceptable for Indians to Travel?
Currently, Indians have permission to travel. However, not all international flights are in operation at the current time (as of the time of writing). This precaution is in place given the present health concerns regarding the latest Covid-19 variant. At the moment, only some international flights would remain active. These include those going to the 31 countries in an Air Bubble agreement with India.
The countries that have a bilateral air bubble deal with India are:
- Bahrain
- Afghanistan
- Bhutan
- Canada
- Ethiopia
- Iraq
- Germany
- Bangladesh
- Japan
- France
- Kuwait
- Kenya
- Maldives
- Omar
- The UAE
- Ukraine
- Nigeria
- Netherlands
- Nepal
- Russia
- Seychelles
- Tanzania
- The UK
- The USA
- Uzbekistan
- Rwanda
Special international travel is accepted between these locations, but not most international flights. Some countries also have a travel ban in place with India.
For travel to one of the visa-free countries for Indian passport holders, an important consideration to follow is travel insurance. Take the support of reliable service providers like Care Insurance for travel costs and documentation support. Also, research the airport and travel safety rules before traveling to any visa-free holiday locations.
