Indian medical visa from Kenya: the fee, the documents and the one contradiction on the government's own page

Checked 11 September 2026. Every figure here is quoted from a Government of India page or PDF and linked, so you can check it yourself.

This page is about the visa only. It gives no medical advice and it names no hospital. If you are asking who pays for the treatment itself, that is a separate question — see our page on how the SHA overseas referral works.

Short answer

• Kenya is on India's e-Visa eligible list. It appears in the published list of countries and territories eligible to avail e-Visa (source, read 11 September 2026).
• The e-Medical Visa fee for Kenyan citizens is US$80, and the e-Medical Attendant Visa is also US$80. That is from the Government of India's own fee table, dated 15-April-2026 (PDF).
• Then add 3% for the bank. "Bank charge of 3% will be charged additional on applicable e-Visa fees" (same PDF). That 3% is a bank transaction charge, not a second government fee.
• There is no other government fee. "No, there is no fee other than the processing fee for e-Visa application and it is non-refundable" (source).
• You need a letter from the hospital in India. Details below.
• ⚠ The government's own page contradicts itself on how long the visa lasts — one section says 365 days, another says 60 days, both on the same page, same day we read it. We are not choosing one for you. Full detail further down; what governs is whatever is stamped in your passport on arrival.
• What other sites confidently state that the government does not. A processing time, a fixed fee for the non-electronic visa, a guaranteed issue date — none of these are published anywhere we could find. See the next section before you trust a number that isn't ours either.

What we could not source, and therefore do not state

We would rather tell you this than guess. Every one of these is something a website or an agent might state confidently — we checked, and the government does not publish it:

• The High Commission of India in Nairobi. We tried both `hcinairobi.gov.in` and `hcinairobi.co.ke` on 11 September 2026 and neither domain responded from our connection. We publish no address, phone number, opening hours or appointment rule for the mission, and we quote no mission-specific requirement. Find the mission's current contact details through the Ministry of External Affairs rather than through us.
• Whether an e-Medical Visa ties you to one named hospital. India's visa centre in Dhaka publishes a rule of that kind for medical visa holders — "Applicants seeking medical visa should visit the designated hospital only for which visa has been issued. Change of Hospital requires FRRO permission in India." (source, dated 24 April 2024, read 11 September 2026). We could not find any equivalent statement on the e-Visa pages, and a rule published for Bangladeshi applicants is not evidence of a rule for Kenyan ones. We will not assume it applies. If you may need to change hospital, ask the High Commission in writing first. The Foreigners Regional Registration Office is at https://indianfrro.gov.in/.
• How long an e-Visa actually takes to be granted. The portal publishes 24 hours for the "please re-upload your document" email, and nothing at all for the decision itself — its own Q7 answers "how will I be informed", not "when". A three-working-day minimum is published elsewhere on the portal, but for the regular visa route, not the e-Visa. So no e-Visa turnaround is published. Anyone quoting you one is not quoting the government.
• The fee for a regular (non-electronic) medical visa for Kenyan citizens. Not published on the portal.
• Whether the fee table changes. The one we read is dated 15-April-2026. Open the PDF and check the date before you rely on the number.
• Any hospital, price, waiting time, success rate or quality claim. We have verified none, for any hospital, anywhere. We publish none.

The fee, exactly as the government publishes it

The Government of India publishes a table titled "Country/Territory Wise e-Visa Fee (e-Business, e-Medical, e-Medical Attendant and e-Conference Visa)". The Kenya row, at number 81, reads:

Source: eTV_revised_fee_final.pdf, linked from the e-Visa portal as the fee table "for other e-Visa", carrying the date 15-April-2026, downloaded and read 11 September 2026.

Three things the portal says about that money:

1. "Bank transaction charges of 3% will be charged additionally on applicable e-Visa fees."
2. "The fee must be paid at least 4 days before the expected date of travel otherwise application will not be processed."
3. "e-Visa fee once submitted is non-refundable as the fee is for processing of the application and is not dependent on either Grant or Rejection of Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA)."

All three: source, read 11 September 2026.

There is no "emergency" or "express" fee. The government says so itself.

"Government of India makes no provision of charging of any emergency fees or additional fees for grant of any emergency / express e-visa."

— Advisory on the e-Visa portal (source, read 11 September 2026)

If someone asks you for money to make an e-Visa come faster, that is the sentence to read back to them. And remember the fee is non-refundable whether you are granted or refused — so nobody can honestly promise you a refund "if it does not come through".

Also: "Do I have to pay anything else at the airport for e-Visa (other than the processing fee paid by me online)? Ans- No." (same source).

The documents

For the e-Medical Visa, the portal lists exactly two documents:

• "Scanned Bio Page of the passport showing the Photograph and Details"
• "Copy of Letter from the Hospital concerned in India on its letterhead which including the date / tentative date which admission have been suggested."

(source, read 11 September 2026; the wording is reproduced as published)

The FAQ on the same page says the same thing more clearly:

"Q20. What are the necessary documents required for e-Medical Visa other than the Passport? Ans - A Copy of Letter from the Hospital concerned in India on its letterhead which includes the tentative date of admission/treatment in the hospital mentioning the name, nationality and Passport number of the patient/ e-Medical Visa applicant."

For the e-Medical Attendant Visa, the only document listed is the scanned passport bio page.

Your passport must have at least six months validity at the time of applying (same source).

Whoever obtains that letter has already chosen your hospital

The letter has to come from a named hospital in India, on that hospital's letterhead, carrying your name, your nationality and your passport number, and a date of admission.

So whoever obtains that letter for you has already chosen your hospital.

That is not an accusation against anyone. It is simply what the document is. If a company is arranging your letter, the question to ask — before the letter is written, not after — is: which hospital will be on it, and may I speak to that hospital myself?

Ask for something that comes directly from the hospital: an email from a hospital address, a phone number for the department, a letter you can see. Then use it yourself.

That is exactly the kind of claim worth checking before you pay anyone. See 13 questions for Kenyan patients before you pay anyone.

Timing, attendants, and how long it lasts

• Apply at least 4 days before you arrive. "For e-Medical and e-Medical Attendant, Applicants of the eligible countries/territories may apply online minimum 4 days in advance of the date of arrival with a window of 120 days." The portal gives its own example: "If you are applying on 1st Sept then applicant can select arrival date from 5th Sept to 2nd Jan."
• Two attendants, no more. "Only two e-Medical Attendant Visas will be granted against one e-Medical Visa." This is the only number the government publishes on attendants, and it is published clearly.
• It cannot be changed into another visa. "e-Visa is non-extendable and non-convertible."
• You must arrive at a designated port. The portal names "33 designated Airports i.e. Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bagdogra, Bengaluru, Bhubaneshwar, 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, Surat, Tiruchirapalli, Trivandrum, Varanasi, Vijayawada & Vishakhapatnam", plus 19 designated seaports. It adds: "You may depart from any of the Indian Immigration Check Posts (ICPs)." Check the current list before you book a flight.
• Carry a printed ETA. "Applicant should carry a copy of Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) along with him/her at the time of travel."
• No issue date is promised. The portal asks its own question and does not answer the "when": "Q7. When will my e-Visa be issued and how will I be informed about it? Ans- You will be intimated about your Visa status (Granted or Rejected) on your email id provided by you in the e-Visa application." You can check it yourself at https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/evisa/ using the "Check your Visa Status" tab.
• 24 hours applies to documents, not to the decision. If a document or photo you uploaded is not acceptable, you will be emailed to re-upload it, and "Applicant should normally receive this mail within 24 hours". That is a message about your paperwork, not about your visa.

All: source, read 11 September 2026.

⚠ The government's own page contradicts itself on how long an e-Medical Visa lasts

We are reporting this rather than choosing one, because we cannot know which is right and a wrong answer here costs someone a flight.

On the same page, on the same day we read it:

• The category list says: "e-Medical Visa (e-M1 V) — Duration: One year (365 days) from the date of arrival into India. Entries: Multiple." The same is printed for e-M3 V, and for the e-Medical Attendant visas e-M2 V and e-M4 V.
• The FAQ section says: "For e-Medical Visa, the validity would be 60 days from the date of first arrival in India and Multiple entry will be allowed within the e-Visa validity period stamped on your Passport." The same 60 days is printed for e-Medical Attendant Visa.

365 days and 60 days cannot both be right. (source, read 11 September 2026.)

What we can say safely: whatever is stamped in your passport on arrival is what governs, because the government's own sentence says multiple entry is allowed "within the e-Visa validity period stamped on your Passport". Before you plan treatment that runs for months, ask the High Commission in writing which duration applies to your case, and check the stamp on arrival.

Do not accept a duration from an agent. Ask for the government page that says it.

If you are not using the e-Visa route

There is also the ordinary (non-electronic) visa, applied for at https://indianvisaonline.gov.in. What the government publishes about it is thin, and we are going to be blunt about that because other sites are not:

• "Medical Visa" exists as a category on the official Visa Categories page — but that page lists the twelve category names and no requirements, no documents and no fees (source, read 11 September 2026).
• The official Visa Fee page publishes no number at all. It says the fee "shall be indicative only and final fee shall be charged while submitting the application at the respective counters", that fees are non-refundable "even if the visa application is withdrawn, the visa is not granted, or if visa issued is of shorter duration", and that you should "check with local embassy office or Indian Visa Application center office" (source).
• Processing time: "the Indian Mission/ Post requires a minimum of three working days to process the case and issue a visa depending upon the nationality and excluding special cases" (source). Minimum, not maximum. No maximum is published.
• Appointments are scheduled "with the concerned Indian Mission", and each applicant needs a separate appointment (source).

So if someone shows you a fixed fee schedule for a regular Indian medical visa for Kenyan citizens, ask them which government page it came from. On 11 September 2026 the portal did not publish one.

The arrival card

"Foreigners and OCI Card holders can complete and submit the e-Arrival card online within 72 hours before their arrival in India at boi.gov.in or indianvisaonline.gov.in or via official 'Indian Visa Su-Swagatam' Mobile App. This is for arrival information, not a visa."

(source, read 11 September 2026)

Nobody should charge you separately for an arrival card and call it a visa step.

A short checklist

1. Confirm Kenya is still on the e-Visa eligible list.
2. Open the fee PDF and check the date and the Kenya row yourself.
3. Get the hospital letter — and know which hospital is on it, and speak to that hospital directly.
4. Check your passport has six months validity.
5. Apply at least 4 days before arrival; the arrival date must be inside the 120-day window.
6. Pay only the published fee plus 3%. There is no express fee.
7. Print the ETA. Submit the e-Arrival card within 72 hours before arrival.
8. Check the duration stamped in your passport when you land.

About this page

Infirmy connects patients with hospitals and medical facilitators in India. We have an interest in you reading this. So:

• We have no providers listed, and we name no hospital on this page.
• We take no money from patients, and we cannot obtain, speed up or influence a visa. Nobody outside the Government of India can.
• Where the official source is missing, contradictory or unreachable, we have said so above instead of writing something that sounds right.

If any fact here turns out to be wrong, or a government page changes after 11 September 2026, we will correct it here and date the correction.

This is general information about process and paperwork, not medical advice. Infirmy does not diagnose, recommend a treatment, or tell anyone what care to seek.