Bhutan | Arrival and Departure Formalities for Indian Citizens

Paro airport

I visited Bhutan recently flying into Paro airport from Kolkata and I have been asked a lot of questions regarding entry formalities into Bhutan for Indians and whether any visa or permits are required.  Firstly no visa is required for Indians.

I am giving the current procedures below.

There is an arrival form which is usually given to you on the flight which you should fill up and keep with your passport.

On arrival in Paro airport you walk from the aircraft to the arrival building greeted by this photograph of the Royal Family

On entering the arrival hall there is separate line for SAARC passports - please join this line.

Present the arrival form and your passport at the counter. You may be asked where you are staying so have the hotel information ready. It was earlier reported that the hotel confirmation voucher was required at immigration but I did not find  the Immigration Officer asking for this.

After completing immigration which takes only a few minutes, if there is no long line, proceed to collect your baggage which is just behind the immigration area. Paro is a small airport so everything is easy and close by. You will see a sign prohibiting the use of Rs 500 Indian currency and above

After collecting your bags proceed through the green channel if you have nothing to declare and your departure form will be collected by customs at the exit. There is also an x-ray at the exit for baggage but all bags are not x-rayed only some of them at the discretion of the officials.

You are then out of the airport in the beautiful Paro valley! Enjoy your stay!

On leaving Paro, you will need to x-ray your bags at the entrance of the airport and then proceed with your ticket and passport to the check in counter. You need to fill up a departure form below:



Present this departure form and your passport to the immigration - it takes only a minute to get the passport stamped and you are through the the boarding lounge which has free wifi for you to browse while you wait for your flight.

Enjoy Bhutan - it's a beautiful country!

For information on some of the hotels where we stayed in Bhutan do visit
http://sujoyrdas.blogspot.in/2017/10/bhutan-hotels-some-recommendations.html
For photographs of Bhutan do visit
http://www.sujoydas.com/Bhutan-Himalaya