How to apply for Aadhaar card in India 2026

You cannot finish a new Aadhaar card apply online. UIDAI enrolment is free, but fingerprints, iris, and photo must be captured in person at an Aadhaar Seva Kendra or other authorised centre. Book a slot, carry originals, collect the EID slip, then download e-Aadhaar from myAadhaar when the number is generated.

First enrolment costs nothing. Update charges are different. Use this table from UIDAI's published Aadhaar Enrolment and Update Charges, as of August 2026.

UIDAI treats a mandatory biometric update as a stand-alone visit. Ask the operator before you combine services. Do not pay a private agent for enrolment. Call 1947 if a centre demands money for a first Aadhaar.

Aadhaar Act 2016 s.2(v) treats you as a resident if you have lived in India for 182 days or more in the twelve months before enrolment. Section 3 gives every such resident a right to obtain an Aadhaar number. Nationality is not the test. Age is not the test. Newborns can be enrolled.

Bal Aadhaar is the child enrolment. Under age 5, UIDAI takes a photograph and links the child to a parent or guardian. There is no fingerprint or iris capture at that age. Biometric update windows sit around age 5 and around age 15. Those first mandatory updates are free in the age bands in the fee table.

You still need a centre visit. There is no fully online UIDAI enrolment.

Treat this as a desk visit, not a website form.

1. Locate a centre. Open the locator on uidai.gov.in or call 1947. Centres include Aadhaar Seva Kendras, India Post counters, and other authorised registrars.
2. Book an appointment. Use bookappointment.uidai.gov.in. Walk-ins may be taken, but a slot cuts the queue.
3. Carry original documents. Bring proof of identity, proof of address, and proof of date of birth from the lists UIDAI publishes. Operators check originals. Photocopies alone are not enough.
4. Fill the enrolment form. Write the name exactly as on the proofs. Add the mobile you actually use. That number becomes the OTP channel for myAadhaar.
5. Give biometrics. Age 5 and above: ten fingerprints, both iris scans, and a photograph. Children under 5: photograph only, linked to the parent.
6. Read the operator screen. Check spelling, date of birth, gender, address, and mobile before you sign. A wrong letter here becomes a later update fee.
7. Collect the EID slip. The Enrolment ID is printed on the acknowledgement. Keep the paper. You need it to track generation.
8. Track on myAadhaar. Open myaadhaar.uidai.gov.in with the EID. Download e-Aadhaar when the number is ready.

If the operator refuses a resident who has documents, do not leave quietly. Ask for the reason in writing. Call 1947. Enrolment is an entitlement under s.3, not a favour.

Carry originals, not only scans on a phone.

• Proof of identity from the UIDAI list for your category.
• Proof of address from the UIDAI list.
• Proof of date of birth from the UIDAI list.
• For Bal Aadhaar: the child's birth proof plus the parent's Aadhaar and presence.
• A working mobile number you control.

If you have no standard proofs, ask the centre about the introducer route. A registered introducer can vouch for a resident. Rural applicants sometimes use a local body letter. Confirm the current option with the operator. Do not buy a fake proof from an agent.

e-Aadhaar is a password-protected PDF. UIDAI treats it as valid Aadhaar. Banks, telecoms, and offices that insist on “only the plastic card” are wrong. Show the PDF or the mAadhaar / Aadhaar App copy.

1. Open myAadhaar.
2. Choose download e-Aadhaar.
3. Use Aadhaar number plus OTP, or the EID if the number is new.
4. Save the PDF. Print it if a counter still wants paper.

A PVC card is a separate paid product. Order it from the UIDAI portal after the number exists. The rupee figure appears at checkout. Do not pay a cyber cafe a “PVC fee” on top of UIDAI's own charge. For the full PVC path, see apply for Aadhaar PVC card 2026.

Updates are not enrolment. Name, address, mobile, or biometrics after you already have a number follow the fee table above. Status after an update is on Aadhaar update status check 2026.

• Believing aadhaar card apply online means the whole card is issued on a website. Online is only appointment, status, e-Aadhaar, document update, and PVC order.
• Paying an agent for “first Aadhaar”. Enrolment is free.
• Signing the operator screen without reading it. Spelling errors become paid demographic updates.
• Leaving the EID slip in the centre. You need that number to track generation.
• Skipping the child's later biometric windows. Bal Aadhaar still needs the age-5 and age-15 updates.
• Confusing document update on myAadhaar with a name change. Portal document update supports enrolled details. A true name change still needs the correct UIDAI process.
• Citing the wrong law when generation is slow. Delay is an RTI Act problem, not an Aadhaar Act s.7 problem.

If myAadhaar stays silent after enrolment, or a centre refused you, file RTI under RTI Act 2005 s.6(1) to the Public Information Officer of the UIDAI Regional Office that covers the centre. The PIO must reply in 30 days under s.7(1). If the reply is late or hollow, file a first appeal under s.19(1).

Do not quote Aadhaar Act s.7 as the delay section. That is the wrong Act for this complaint.

Draft the application with the AI RTI Drafter. State RTI fees are on RTI fees by state.

1. Status of Aadhaar enrolment against EID ________ dated ________, as on the date of this reply.
2. Name and designation of the official handling the enrolment packet.
3. Whether the packet is in quality check, hold, or reject, and the reason in the system.
4. Copy of file notings and packet movement after the enrolment date.
5. The step still pending, and the office now holding the packet.

If s.7(1) expires with no reply, use the First Appeal Builder.

No. UIDAI enrolment always needs in-person biometrics, except the photo-only Bal Aadhaar visit for children under 5. Websites only book slots, take document updates, show status, and issue e-Aadhaar or PVC after the number exists.

UIDAI enrolment is the first capture of your demographic data and biometrics. Aadhaar Act 2016 s.2(v) uses 182 days in India in the previous twelve months. Section 3 then entitles that resident to an Aadhaar number.

Bal Aadhaar is child enrolment with a photograph linked to a parent. No fingerprints or iris at that age. Plan the free biometric updates in the 5 to 7 and 15 to 17 windows listed in UIDAI's charge table.

The EID is the enrolment acknowledgement number. On myaadhaar.uidai.gov.in you track generation, download e-Aadhaar, update documents at myaadhaar.uidai.gov.in/du, and order PVC once the Aadhaar number exists.

Use the centre locator on uidai.gov.in, book at bookappointment.uidai.gov.in, or call 1947. Ask whether the counter is an Aadhaar Seva Kendra, a post office, or another authorised registrar.

You do not need a computer for enrolment. Walk to a centre, or ask 1947 for the nearest slot. Take originals. The operator fills the form and prints the EID. Later, a Common Service Centre or the Aadhaar App can help you download e-Aadhaar.

First biometric update at age 5 to 7 is free. First or second biometric update at age 15 to 17 is free. Other biometric updates are ₹125, except age 7 to 15, which UIDAI has kept free till 30.9.2026. Confirm the receipt before you pay.

Yes. UIDAI accepts e-Aadhaar as valid Aadhaar. PVC is optional plastic. If a private counter refuses the PDF, ask them to state the legal basis, then complain to 1947.

• New Aadhaar enrolment 2026, deep guide
• Aadhaar update status check 2026
• Apply for Aadhaar PVC card 2026
• How to apply for PAN card
• All how-to-apply guides
• AI RTI Drafter
• The RTI Playbook

• LPG subsidy status check PAHAL

• uidai.gov.in
• myaadhaar.uidai.gov.in
• bookappointment.uidai.gov.in
• Document update on myAadhaar
• UIDAI Aadhaar Enrolment and Update Charges PDF
• Aadhaar Act 2016, s.2(v) and s.3
• RTI Act 2005, s.6(1), s.7(1), s.19(1)

Reviewed for RTI Wiki by Dr. Shrawan Kumar Pathak.