Nepal, Bhutan citizens can enter India without Passport or Visa: MHA

The citizens of Nepal and Bhutan entering India by land or air will not be required to furnish a passport or visa, as earlier. Ministry of Home Affairs has notified the Immigration and Foreigners (Exemption) Order, 2025, pointing out some major exemptions from requirements related to valid passports, travel documents, and visas for specific categories of individuals and carriers. The members of the naval, military or air forces of India entering or exiting India on duty and the family members of any such person, when accompanying such a person on a government transport, will also not be required to carry a passport or visa, according to an order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) following the enforcement of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025.

The requirement of a valid passport or other valid travel documents and a valid visa for entry into, stay in and exit from India shall not apply if "a citizen of India entering into India by land or by air over the Nepalese or Bhutanese frontier, a citizen of Nepal or Bhutan entering into India by land or air over the Nepal or Bhutan border or if he possesses a valid passport while entering or exiting India from or to a place other than Nepal or Bhutan but not from China, Macau, Hong Kong or Pakistan", the MHA said.

A person belonging to a minority community in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan – Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, who were compelled to seek shelter in India due to religious persecution or fear of religious persecution and entered the country on or before 31st December, 2024 without valid documents, including a passport or other travel documents, and the validity of such documents have expired will be exempted from the rule of possessing a valid passport and visa. The rule will also not apply to registered Sri Lankan Tamil nationals who took shelter in India by January 9, 2015.