Permits for travellers to enter North East Indian states

Inner Line Permit | Restricted Area Permit for North East Indian states
(Update: In a bid to boost tourism, the North East states of Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland all scrapped the requirement for Foreign Visitors to apply for a Protected Area Permit (RAP, PAP) on the 1st Jan 2011. So, for travel to Nagaland, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura, permits are not required for foreign passport holders.)

Inner Line Permit | Protected Area Permit | Restricted Area Permit

Inner Line Permit or Protected Area Permit (PAP) or Restricted Area Permit (RAP) is required for Indian citizens and foreigners to enter Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Sikkim and Mizoram.

FAQs (PAP / RAP) - Click Here

For domestic travellers

The Inner Line Permit to a casual visitor/tourist/traveller is issued for a period of 15 days generally without photo on producing PRC or Election Card from native place or Indian passport or PAN Card or Income Tax Registration card or Driving License issued by the competent authority. The application should be recommended by an officer related to purpose of visit or other officer equivalent to the rank of Under Secretary to the Government of Arunachal Pradesh.

The following are the links to the sites of the State Governments of North-eastern region that provide information on how to obtain an ILP for domestic travellers.

Arunachal Pradesh | Nagaland | Mizoram

For foreign travellers

Click Here to find out about How To Obtain A Protected Area Permit In Guwahati.

Every foreigner who desires to enter and stay in a Protected or Restricted Area, is required to obtain a special permit (PAP/RAP) from a competent authority delegated with powers to issue such a special permit to a foreigner on application. A foreigner is not normally allowed to visit a protected/restricted area unless the Government is satisfied that there are exceptional reasons to justify it. However, to promote tourism, some notified tourist circuits can be visited by foreign tourists either in groups of four or more, as a couple or as individual after obtaining necessary permit from the competent authority.

The following authorities have been delegated powers to issue Protected Area Permit to organise foreign tourist groups for places mentioned above for a maximum period of 30 days after usual checks:
  • Ministry of Home Affairs
  • All Indian Missions abroad
  • Foreigner Regional Registration Offices (FRRO) at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Amritsar, Hyderabad and Bangalore
  • Home Commissioner, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, Itanagar
  • Resident Commissioner of Arunachal Pradesh at Delhi and Secretary (Tourism)

In Sikkim, the following are competent to also issue Permit in addition to the above:
  • Chief Secretary/Home Secretary/Secretary (Tourism) of the State Govt. of Sikkim
  • IG Police, Sikkim, Gangtok
  • Assistant Director (Tourism), Govt. of Sikkim, Siliguri
  • Deputy Director (Tourism), Govt. of Sikkim, New Delhi
  • Resident Comissioner, Govt. of Sikkim, New Delhi
  • Assistant Resident Commissioner, Govt. of Sikkim, Kolkata
  • Tourism Officer, Rengpo
  • Deputy Commissioner, Darjeeling
  • Deputy Secretary/Under Secretary, Home Department, Govt. of West Bengal, Kolkata.
The following are the links to the sites of the State Governments of North-eastern region that provide information on how to obtain an PAP or RAP.

Arunachal Pradesh
Sikkim | Mizoram

OK! North East appeals to all concerned citizens to pay adequate attention to Inner Line Permits (ILP) being issued on their sponsorship and renew it on time.