Visa for Yoga Teacher Training: India, Thailand and Bali

The visa you need for a teacher training depends on the country, and the honest answer differs for each. We run 200-hour teacher trainings in Goa, India, on Koh Samui, Thailand and near Ubud in Bali, Indonesia. This guide sets out what each country’s official sources say about short visits, where the wording leaves room for doubt, and who can give you a firm answer. It is general information, not legal advice.

The three countries at a glance

The table shows a common short-stay route for each country. It is a starting point, not a recommendation for your passport or your course. Each row links to its sources.

India: the e-Tourist visa and the certificate question

For a short stay, India offers an e-Tourist visa. The official Indian e-Visa page lists “attending a short term yoga programme” among its permitted purposes, which is why many people assume it covers a teacher training. The FAQ on the same page narrows that. It says such courses “should not be a formal or structured course/programme”, and describes them as “courses not exceeding 6 months duration and not issuing a qualifying certificate/diploma etc. to the participants”.

A 200-hour teacher training is structured, and it ends with a certificate. Whether that certificate counts as “qualifying” in the sense of the FAQ is a question for the Indian authorities, not for a school or a blog. We cannot give you a ruling on it, and we would be wary of anyone who does.

What other travellers report

Traveller reports point both ways. In one TripAdvisor thread, a student said their e-Visa application for a 200-hour training was rejected, and a forum expert pointed to the certificate wording. In another thread, a student who had hesitated over the same wording travelled on a one-year e-Tourist visa and said they were not questioned beyond the usual. Schools write about this too: one Indian yoga school says most of its international students travel on an e-Tourist visa, and also suggests asking an Indian mission in writing if you want certainty. These are individual experiences, not rules. They tell you what happened to one person on one day, not what will happen to you.

What we suggest for India

• Ask an Indian mission in writing. Email the Indian embassy or consulate that serves your country, describe the course (length, hours, that it ends with a certificate) and ask which visa category they consider correct. Get written confirmation before you book flights.
• Keep the reply. Print it or save it to your phone, in case you are asked about the purpose of your visit.
• Apply in good time. For the 30-day e-Tourist visa, the official FAQ says to apply at least 4 days before arrival, and allows applications up to 120 days ahead. The Consulate General of India in San Francisco adds that biometrics are taken on arrival.
• Plan for no extension. The e-Visa cannot be extended or converted once you are in India.

Our 200-hour teacher training in Goa runs for 21 days near Mandrem beach in North Goa and is Yoga Alliance certified (RYS 200). Give the mission those facts when you write.

Thailand: 30 days, tourism only

Thailand shortened its visa exemption recently. The Tourism Authority of Thailand says that from 15 September 2026 passport holders of the listed countries and territories are eligible for visa exemption for tourism, with a stay of up to 30 days, and that separate bilateral arrangements continue to apply where relevant. According to law-firm summaries of the 15 September 2026 change, from Fragomen and Dej-Udom & Associates, this replaced the old 60-day exemption, the new one is “for tourism purposes only”, and people who entered before that date keep the stay they were given. We could not open the foreign ministry’s own notice, so check the list for your passport.

Whether the 30 days can be extended inside Thailand is not something we could confirm on an official page, so do not build a plan that depends on an extension. If your passport is covered by a bilateral agreement instead, its own terms apply.

The sources we read do not say whether a course counts as tourism. If you want certainty, or your passport is not on the list, ask a Royal Thai Embassy or consulate, or apply for a visa through the official Thai e-Visa site before you travel. Our teacher training on Koh Samui runs for 21 days, which sits inside a 30-day stay if your flights are close to the course dates.

Bali: the e-VOA, the arrival card and the levy

For a short stay in Bali, one route is Indonesia’s electronic visa on arrival (e-VOA), applied for online at evisa.imigrasi.go.id. According to a 2023 news release from Indonesia’s Directorate General of Immigration, it is valid for 30 days and can be extended once, for a further 30 days. Indonesia also asks arrivals to complete an arrival card before arrival, on the official site allindonesia.imigrasi.go.id. Check the current window for submitting it there.

Bali adds its own tourist levy. The Love Bali FAQ says foreign tourists pay IDR 150,000 per person, once per trip, cashless. You can pay online through the Love Bali system before you travel, or at the airport on arrival. Our teacher training in Bali is held at Om Ham Retreat & Resort near Ubud and runs for 21 days. As with Thailand, if you are unsure whether a course fits the e-VOA’s purposes, ask an Indonesian embassy or consulate before you go.

A checklist before you book

• Passport validity. Check how many months of validity and blank pages each country asks for on its official site.
• Your exact dates. Count your stay from the day you land, not the day the course starts.
• Written answers. For India in particular, get written confirmation from an Indian mission before you pay for flights.
• Travel insurance. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office advises getting “appropriate travel insurance” and says it “should cover your itinerary, planned activities and expenses in an emergency”. Check that your policy covers a residential yoga course.
• Preparation. Our guides on how to prepare for a yoga teacher training and the 5 essential items for a traveling yogi cover the rest of the packing and planning.

If you have questions about the course itself, such as dates, rooms or whether you are ready, ask us. For your visa, the official sources linked in this guide, and the embassy or consulate that serves you, are the people to ask.