These are the rules India applies to travellers arriving from a country with a risk of yellow fever transmission. They matter more to safari travellers than the entry rules of most African countries do, because a Kenyan, Ugandan or Ethiopian itinerary can leave you needing a certificate to get back into India even when you needed nothing to get in. Checked against the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Bureau of Immigration in August 2026.
Arriving in India
A traveller arriving in India — Indian or foreign — without a valid yellow fever vaccination certificate will be held in quarantine if they arrive within six days of leaving a country India treats as a yellow-fever-risk country.
The quarantine runs until the certificate becomes valid, or until six days have passed from the last possible exposure, whichever comes first. The same applies to anyone arriving on a ship that has called at a port in a risk country within the previous thirty days without being disinsected in accordance with WHO procedure.
Which countries trigger it
India notifies a list of yellow-fever-risk countries, last refreshed in January 2023 and published on the Ministry’s point-of-entry portal. Among the destinations we plan, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Chad and Gabon are on it.
Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Rwanda, Mozambique, Malawi and Madagascar are not. This page previously listed Tanzania and Zambia among yellow-fever countries; neither appears on WHO’s list or on India’s, and we have corrected it.
One caution on Rwanda: the Bureau of Immigration’s published list includes it, while the Ministry of Health’s own January 2023 table does not. Until the two agree, a traveller returning from Rwanda is better off carrying the certificate.
India also adds any country that reports a case of yellow fever, so the list can change between trips.
Leaving India
There is no health check on departure. Travellers heading for a yellow-fever-risk country are advised, in their own interest, to be vaccinated and to carry a valid certificate before they leave — which in practice means arranging it well before the trip, since the certificate only becomes valid on the tenth day after vaccination.
Why a photocopy will not do
India accepts only the original certificate. A photocopy, a scan or a photograph on your phone is treated as invalid, and presenting one is itself grounds for quarantine.
The Ministry also treats a certificate as defective, with the same consequence, if the vaccine was given at a centre that is not authorised, if the certificate is less than ten days old on arrival, if the clinician’s stamp, signature or the vaccine batch number is missing, if your personal details are wrong, or if anything has been altered or overwritten. Check all of it before you leave the vaccination centre.
Who is exempt
Infants too young to be vaccinated, and travellers holding a medical exemption certificate, are exempt from producing a vaccination certificate. Note carefully that a medical exemption certificate does not exempt the holder from quarantine — the Ministry states this explicitly, and adds that there is no diplomatic immunity from quarantine procedures either.
On the infant threshold, India’s own sources disagree: the Bureau of Immigration states infants below six months, while WHO’s record of the Indian rule states below nine months. Families travelling with a baby should contact the Airport Health Organisation at their arrival airport rather than rely on either figure.
Passengers and crew transiting through an airport in a risk country may be exempted if they remain within the airport premises for the whole of their stay and the health officer is satisfied of it. It is at the officer’s discretion and not something to plan around.
Where to get vaccinated
Only at a centre authorised by the Directorate General of Health Services — there are 74, listed on the Ministry’s official register. See our guide to where to get your travel vaccinations in India, or the fuller explanation of yellow fever requirements for Indian travellers.
Planning the trip these vaccinations are for?
We have been designing African safaris for Indian travellers for fifteen years, and routing is part of that conversation — whether you need a yellow fever certificate often depends on where you change planes rather than where you are going. We cannot arrange vaccinations for you, but we can tell you exactly what your itinerary will require and plan around it.
Health requirements checked 3 August 2026 against WHO and India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. These change without notice, so please confirm through the official links above before you travel. We are safari specialists, not medical advisers.