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Quick summary

Foreign passport holders cannot use DigiYatra to skip immigration in India as of 14 October 2026. The international pilot running October to December 2026 at Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi and Mumbai covers terminal entry and security checks only; immigration sits outside phase one. Biometric immigration e-gates belong to a separate scheme, FTI-TTP, open to Indian nationals and OCI cardholders.

DigiYatra remains domestic-only for full departures, so carry your physical passport and boarding pass and expect the manual lane. A full international rollout is planned for March 2027, pending trial results and certification.

A three-month pilot that began this month is testing DigiYatra on international departures at five Indian airports — Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi and Mumbai. The trial, announced on 24 September 2026, will not move you past the immigration desk.

For foreign travellers asking whether DigiYatra can skip India’s immigration queues, the answer in October 2026 is no. DigiYatra’s own guidance, current to 13 July 2026, describes a domestic system. International travel still requires a physical passport and a standard boarding pass. The biometric immigration e-gates at Indian airports belong to a different programme, the Fast Track Immigration-Trusted Traveller Programme (FTI-TTP).

For a UK passport holder flying into Delhi or Mumbai this winter, the pilot changes the airport experience before immigration, not the immigration process itself.

Can foreign nationals use DigiYatra in India right now?

Can foreigners use DigiYatra? Whether you call it Digi Yatra for foreigners or DigiYatra for foreigners, the system is built for Indian air travellers. Its enrolment rules explain the limit as of 14 October 2026.

DigiYatra enrolment runs on Aadhaar, India’s resident identity number. Aadhaar enrolment is limited to people who have spent at least 182 days in India in the previous 12 months. Non-resident Indians and OCI cardholders living abroad fall outside that definition, which is why passport-based enrolment is being developed as a separate layer. The system’s design is set out in the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s DigiYatra guidelines.

The hub-and-spoke pilot that launched on 1 June 2026 made the split explicit. On the Air India corridor that opened it, Indian nationals were required to use DigiYatra for the domestic-to-international transfer, NRIs and OCI cardholders were exempt, and foreign nationals were routed through manual lanes.

What the October to December 2026 pilot skips

The pilot tests an e-passport route. You scan the chip in your passport, verify your identity with a selfie, and store a digital credential on your phone that links to your boarding pass. The boarding pass can be issued before you reach the airport. That lets you create the credential in advance rather than at a kiosk.

It skips the queue at the terminal entrance and the security checkpoint. Immigration is outside phase one, which The Hindu’s report attributes to regulatory and operational sensitivity. The passport check and the officer’s stamp are unchanged.

Air India and IndiGo are expected to take part, and the first international trials are slated to start at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru.

The immigration e-gate route that does exist

FTI-TTP is the closest thing India offers to airport fast entry for immigration. As of 11 August 2026, it operates at 13 airports, among them Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Kochi. Goa has been approved to join.

Registration is not instant. The online application uses OTP or email verification and requires you to upload your passport or OCI documents. Biometric enrolment follows in person at an airport or a Foreigners Regional Registration Office.

For a foreign passport holder without OCI status, there is no biometric immigration lane to join in October 2026.

Current DigiYatra scale, languages and data rules

DigiYatra’s domestic base is large and still growing. As of February 2026, the system reported 21 million active users and 85 million uses. By August 2026, it was live at 39 airports, with a target of 64 by March 2027.

The app supports 11 Indian languages plus English, with 11 more planned by the end of 2026.

Data handling is the part foreign travellers ask about most. The DigiYatra Foundation describes a decentralised wallet model: credentials sit on your phone rather than in a central passenger database, and data is purged from airport systems within 24 hours of the scheduled flight departure. Enrolment is voluntary. The Press Information Bureau’s expansion figures track the same airport count.

The biometric journey is not yet uniform, even for domestic travellers. Face recognition is mandatory at available terminal entrances and security checkpoints, but face-based boarding varies across airports.

What to do at the airport in October 2026

If you are flying out of Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi or Mumbai on Air India or IndiGo during the October to December 2026 pilot, you may be offered the e-passport route.

• Carry the physical passport and a boarding pass you can show on paper or screen; DigiYatra cannot clear you through immigration in October 2026.
• Check your OCI status if you hold one: FTI-TTP registration is free, valid up to 10 years, and can take a month, so start before you book.
• Test your e-passport chip with an NFC-capable phone before departure if you want to use the pilot’s e-passport scan at the five trial airports.
• Watch: the March 2027 rollout date, which depends on trial results and certification from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

Foreign passport holders who still need an Indian visa should check the rules for applying for an India e-Visa before booking.

Anyone connecting through Delhi to a third country on separate tickets should check the visa rules for a Delhi transit connection.

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