India Medical Visa from Nigeria: The Sticker-Visa Dossier, Step by Step

For Nigerian patients, the Indian medical visa is a paper dossier you assemble across two countries, drawing on your doctor in Nigeria, a hospital in India, your bank, and the High Commission of India. Each step on its own is straightforward. The order matters, because one document can expire while you wait on the next.

This is the step-by-step order we use when coordinating cases. If you want help assembling your dossier, message us on WhatsApp or use the contact page. We respond within four business hours.

First, the fact that shapes everything: this is a sticker visa

As of mid-2026, the High Commission of India in Abuja states that there is no e-visa facility for Nigerian nationals. The medical visa is issued as a sticker visa: a physical application, submitted in person at Abuja or Lagos, with a printed dossier.

You will find third-party visa websites, some of them polished and confident, claiming that Nigerians can apply for India’s e-medical visa online. These claims conflict with the High Commission’s own published guidance. When a commercial website and an embassy disagree, the embassy wins. Treat the High Commission of India in Abuja and its official channels as the authoritative source, check its site the week you apply, and if anything is unclear, ask the mission directly. We re-verify the requirements for every case we handle, because visa rules change without ceremony.

Plan for the sticker-visa process. If e-visa access is ever officially extended to Nigerian nationals, that will appear on the mission’s own website first, and the process below only gets easier.

The dossier at a glance

The High Commission sets these requirements and can change them; confirm the current list on the mission’s website before your appointment.

Step 1: The referral letter from your Nigerian doctor

The dossier starts at home. Ask your treating doctor or hospital for a letter that states your diagnosis, the treatment recommended, and that you are seeking specialised treatment in India. It should be on hospital letterhead, signed, dated and recent.

This letter also does quiet medical work: writing it forces a clear statement of what you are travelling for, the same information an Indian specialist needs to review your case remotely.

Step 2: The invitation letter — sent by the hospital, directly to the mission

An Indian hospital must invite you. The critical detail Nigerian applicants most often miss: the hospital sends the invitation directly to the Indian mission, not only to you. A printout in your folder is not, by itself, the requirement.

For this you need a hospital that has reviewed your case and agreed to treat you, which is why the remote-consultation step usually comes first. When we coordinate a case, we obtain the invitation from the hospital’s international desk and confirm it has reached the mission before you book your submission appointment. If you are arranging it yourself, ask the hospital to confirm transmission in writing.

Step 3: The three-month certified bank statement

The mission asks for a certified statement covering the last three months, showing you can fund treatment and travel. If a family member abroad is funding the treatment, ask the mission how to document that support. A sponsor letter and the sponsor’s statement are commonly requested in such cases; confirm the exact format with the High Commission.

Ask your bank for certification early. In our experience the bank is the slowest signature in the dossier.

Step 4: The yellow-fever certificate

India requires a valid yellow-fever vaccination certificate from travellers arriving from Nigeria. If you are not yet vaccinated, do it at an accredited centre well before travel. The certificate becomes valid ten days after vaccination. Carry the original, and remember that your attendant needs one too.

Patients undergoing certain treatments should discuss vaccination timing with their doctor, one more reason the medical review comes before the paperwork.

Step 5: Passport, photographs, forms

These are standard, but check the details: a passport valid for at least six months beyond your intended stay with blank pages, photographs to the mission’s specification, and the application form completed through the official channel. Print and sign everything the mission asks for; assemble the dossier in the order the checklist gives.

Step 6: Submit in person, at Abuja or Lagos

You apply in person at the High Commission in Abuja or the Consulate in Lagos, paying the fee, US$252 as of mid-2026, at application. Confirm the current fee, accepted payment method, and whether an appointment must be booked before you travel to the mission. Processing times vary case by case; the mission will indicate collection timelines when you submit. Build slack into your treatment date rather than booking flights against the earliest possible day.

Small things that save a second trip to the mission

From dossiers we have helped assemble, the errors that most often cost applicants another journey to Abuja or Lagos are the mundane ones: a referral letter that names the condition but not the recommended treatment; photographs to the wrong specification; a bank statement stamped but not certified in the form the mission expects; dates that disagree between the referral letter and the application form. Before you travel to the mission, lay the whole dossier on a table and read it as the visa officer will: one story, told consistently across every document. Ten minutes of cross-checking costs less than going back a second time.

Attendants: bring the dossier for two

Most patients travel with a family member. You apply for attendant visas for close family alongside your own application, and each attendant submits their own passport, photographs, and documents linking them to your case. Confirm with the mission how many attendants are permitted and what each must submit.

A note for transplant cases

Kidney and other transplant journeys carry an additional legal layer beyond the visa: Indian law permits foreign patients only near-relative living donors, and requires document attestation in Nigeria before departure, re-attestation by the Nigerian mission in New Delhi, and an embassy no-objection certificate verifying patient and donor identity, before a hospital Authorisation Committee reviews the case. If this is your situation, plan for a Delhi leg and start the attestation chain early. This is legal-process education, not legal advice. Each case needs individual review.

The sensible order of operations

1. Medical review first. A $50 remote consultation or $150 written second opinion from an Indian specialist, done from Nigeria with your existing reports, settles whether the journey is worth making, before you spend a naira on paperwork. Fees and full crediting rules are on our fees page.
2. Referral letter from your Nigerian doctor.
3. Hospital acceptance and invitation, transmitted directly to the mission.
4. Bank statement and yellow-fever certificate in parallel.
5. Submission in person, with slack in the calendar.

For the wider picture (budgeting, flights, and how the whole journey fits together), see our Nigeria treatment guide and Nigeria corridor page.

We coordinate this dossier for patients as part of full journey coordination. We take no commissions from hospitals. Our fees are paid by you, published upfront, and itemized separately from your hospital bill.

Questions about your specific case? Message us on WhatsApp or write via the contact page. We respond within four business hours.

Sources

• Visa Instructions — High Commission of India, Abuja. No e-visa facility for Nigerian nationals; in-person application. Accessed 28 July 2026.
• Medical Visa — High Commission of India, Abuja. US$252 fee, referral letter, hospital invitation sent directly to the mission, three-month certified bank statement, yellow-fever certificate, attendant details. Accessed 28 July 2026.
• Indian Visa Online — Government of India. Official regular (sticker) visa application channel; form printed and submitted in person at the mission. Accessed 28 July 2026.