There is no visa. There are conditions
Entry on an Indian passport
Seychelles does not issue tourist visas to anybody. What it issues is permission at the border, and that permission has requirements you can fail.
There is no visa. There are conditions.
Seychelles does not issue a tourist visa to anybody, of any nationality. What it issues instead is a visitor's permit granted at the border on arrival, and an Indian passport holder is entitled to apply for one on the same footing as everybody else. There is no embassy appointment, no application fee for a visa, and no waiting.
What there is, and what people miss, is a set of conditions that have to be met at the counter, plus a travel authorisation that has to be obtained online before you fly. Neither is difficult. Both are refusable if you turn up without them.
The photograph above: Remi Jouan, CC BY-SA 3.0
The travel authorisation, before you fly
Seychelles requires visitors to hold an approved travel authorisation before boarding. It is an online application, it is made in advance rather than on arrival, and it carries a fee. Airlines check for it at the departure gate, so arriving without one means not being allowed on the aircraft at all.
Apply through the official Seychelles government portal and nowhere else. There is a large industry of sites that will take a much larger fee to fill in the same form on your behalf, and they are not the government. Ours is not a service that does this for you either, and we would rather say so than sell it.
What the border actually asks for
A passport valid for the length of your stay. A confirmed return or onward ticket. Confirmed accommodation for the whole of your stay. And sufficient funds for the duration of the trip.
Those four are the whole list, and the two that catch people out are accommodation and funds. Accommodation means a booking for every night, not for the first night, and an officer is entitled to ask to see it. Funds are assessed at the counter and a card statement or the cards themselves are ordinarily enough.
How long you may stay
The initial permit granted on arrival is for a period set by the immigration officer, based on the length of stay you declare and the accommodation you have booked. For an ordinary holiday of two or three weeks that is not a constraint you will notice.
Extensions are possible and are dealt with by the immigration authority in Victoria, not at the airport. If you think you might extend, say so at the counter on arrival rather than a fortnight later.
What is not required
No visa. No sponsor. No invitation letter. No compulsory vaccination for an arrival from India, and no yellow fever certificate unless you have passed through a yellow-fever country on the way, which a routing through the Gulf does not.
No proof of travel insurance is asked for at the border either, though we would carry it anyway for reasons that have nothing to do with immigration.
The arrival itself
Seychelles International is a small airport with a single terminal, fifteen minutes from Victoria and about ten from the ferry quay. Arrivals is a covered walkway, an immigration hall with a handful of counters, and a baggage hall. On a quiet evening you are outside in twenty minutes.
There is a SIM counter, there are car hire desks, and there are taxis. If you have booked a transfer, the driver is inside the hall with a board rather than outside in the car park.
Airport transfers
A driver who watches your flight number and waits with your name on a board, at a price agreed before you fly rather than at the kerb.
See transfersLeaving, and what the last day looks like
There is no departure formality beyond the ordinary one, and the airport is small enough that two hours is genuinely enough for an international departure. Flights towards India leave in the evening.
The thing to plan around is not the airport, it is the island you are leaving from. If your last night is on Praslin or La Digue you will spend the final day on boats, which is why every itinerary on this site puts a last night back on Mahé.
If something about your case is unusual
A passport close to expiry, a one-way ticket, a stay longer than a month, or an accommodation booking that does not cover every night: any of those turns a routine arrival into a conversation. None of them is fatal and all of them are better handled before you fly than at a counter at eleven at night.
The authority on all of this is the Seychelles government, not us and not a travel site. Where the rule is theirs, go to them.
Entry on an Indian passport, in six frames.
Photographs, under Creative Commons: Simisa, CC BY-SA 3.0 Radosław Botev, CC0 A.Savin, FAL dronepicr, CC BY 2.0 dronepicr, CC BY 2.0
What people ask.
Do Indian passport holders need a visa for Seychelles?
No. Seychelles does not issue tourist visas to anybody. A visitor's permit is granted at the border on arrival, subject to conditions. A travel authorisation must be obtained online before you fly.
What is the travel authorisation?
An online approval that must be held before boarding. Airlines check for it at the gate. Apply through the official Seychelles government portal rather than through an agency site charging a larger fee for the same form.
What do they ask for at immigration?
A passport valid for your stay, a confirmed return or onward ticket, confirmed accommodation for every night of the trip, and sufficient funds. Accommodation for the whole stay is the one that catches people out.
Do we need vaccinations for Seychelles?
Not for an arrival from India. A yellow fever certificate is required only if you have passed through a yellow-fever country on the way, which a routing through the Gulf does not.
How long can we stay?
The permit granted on arrival covers the stay you declare and have booked accommodation for. For an ordinary two or three week holiday it is not a constraint. Extensions are handled by the immigration authority in Victoria.
How long does the airport take?
It is a single-terminal airport fifteen minutes from Victoria. On a quiet evening you are outside within twenty minutes of the aircraft door, and two hours is genuinely enough for departure.
A driver inside the hall, with your name on a board
Send your flight number and where you are staying. Meera will arrange the transfer at a price agreed before you fly, and the driver will already know if you are late.