for indian nationals–

indian nationals do not require any visa for bhutan. the following documents are needed to get the permit:

• they must be personally present.
• original passport with a minimum validity of 6 months from the date of departure from bhutan or original voter id (only for indians). no other document shall be acceptable by the immigration. for convenience sake it is recommended that the guests also carry photocopy of the travel documents.
• 04 passport size photographs, required only for land entry.
• for children below age of 18 from date of departure in bhutan, original birth certificate in english and student id.
• if the guests are arriving from or travelling to, any other country other than india, the only document acceptable is 6 months valid original passport. please be careful that no other document shall be accepted by the immigration.
• oci card or pio card are not valid documents to travel to bhutan as indian nationals. they will be considered as foreign nationals and will need 6 months valid passport only. in such case all rules as applicable to foreign national shall be applicable to them and they will be subjected to visa and royalty charges.

if you are entering bhutan via land, it is to be noted that the permits are issued only during working days and hours (monday to friday between 9 am to 4 pm during winter and 5 pm during summer). please note that the permits are not issued also on bhutan national holidays. it is suggested that the travellers arriving in phuentsholing on friday should arrive latest by 10 am in order to complete the entry formalities. however, during high season depending upon the rush immigration may take long time to issue the permit. hence it is recommended that the guests arrive atleast on thursday provided friday is not a holiday in bhutan.

online pemit – bhutan has recently started a system of online permit which is applicable only for indian nationals holding indian passport valid for minimum of 6 months from date of departure from bhutan. for this clear scanned copy of passport along with e-tickets is required. no photos of passport taken from mobile shall be accepted.

special permit for places other than phuentsholing, thimphu and paro:

special permit is required to visit places beyond thimphu and paro from the department of immigrations, thimphu. for this photocopy of voter id card or passport of each person including child is needed (birth certificate and school i card).. this permit cab be issued only after guest has entered bhutan. permits are not issued on saturday, sunday & bhutan govt. holidays.

only for those travelling to these places on saturday, sunday & bhutan govt. holidays, permits can be taken in advance. for valid passports holder the permits can be taken online and for voter i card holders manually. for both these modes of application, clear scanned copy of passport or voter i card as the case may be along with e-tickets are needed. no photographs taken from mobile shall be accepted.

foreign nationals –

no foreign embassies/ missions/ agencies can issue visa for bhutan except the department of immigration, thimphu, bhutan. the visa approval letter can be processed only after the deposit of full tour payment in usd to the bhutan national bank a/c as required by the tourism council of bhutan. it takes atleast 7 working days to process the visa. the visa approval letter will be mailed to you. you have to carry this document when you board the flight to bhutan. the actual visa will be stamped in your passport upon arrival in bhutan. a minimum 6 months valid passport from the date of departure is required for travel to bhutan. clear scanned copy of the original passports of each passenger in color in jpeg format and information as may be asked for shall be required to process the visa.

please be informed that you need to carry the same passport which is used for applying the bhutan visa. if the passport is renewed once the visa is approved, you need to send us the new passports. kindly double check the passport number in the visa and the passport that you are carrying. you will not be allowed to board the flight if you are carrying different passport.