Bringing someone with you
A patient travelling to India on a Medical Visa may bring up to two attendants on Medical Attendant Visas, and Bangladeshi nationals may bring three. Attendant visas are linked to the patient's and carry the same validity. Attendants must normally be close family members.
Who qualifies as an attendant
Close family: spouse, children, parents, and normally siblings. The relationship has to be documented with a marriage certificate, birth certificate or family register, depending on your country.
Friends, employers and neighbours generally do not qualify, however practical the arrangement might be. If nobody in your family can travel, tell us early. We arrange interpreters and day-to-day support in India, and for some patients that works better than a second attendant would have.
What an attendant needs
- Their own passport, valid six months beyond arrival
- Their own application, referencing the patient's visa or application number
- Proof of relationship to the patient
- A copy of the patient's visa or approval
- The same hospital invitation letter, which should name them
Attendants do not need their own medical documents, and there is no separate hospital letter for them.
How the visas are linked
Attendant visas are issued against the patient's Medical Visa and carry the same validity and entry conditions. In practice that means the patient's application should be submitted first or at the same time, and if the patient's visa is extended, attendants must apply to extend theirs too, because it does not happen automatically. If the patient's visa is refused, the attendants' applications fall with it.
Choosing who comes
The useful attendant is the one who can make decisions, handle money and stay calm in a hospital corridor at midnight. That is not always the closest relative.
Send both applications together. Splitting them is the most common reason an attendant arrives separately, or not at all.
For transplant or a long oncology admission, families often rotate attendants, one flying home as another arrives. That works, but each person needs their own visa and the total is still capped.
Frequently asked questions
Can my attendant arrive later than me?
Yes, provided their visa is approved. Many families send the patient and one attendant first, with a second following once the treatment date is confirmed.
Does the attendant pay a separate visa fee?
Yes, at the same rate as the patient, and nothing for Bangladeshi nationals.
Can a child be an attendant?
In practice, no. Attendants are expected to be adults capable of caring for the patient.
My relative lives in a third country. Can they be my attendant?
Usually yes, provided the relationship is documented. They apply from where they live, on their own passport.
Last checked 22 July 2026.
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