At the SDM office in Dharchula, or at Pithoragarh district hospital rooms 28 and 29. It is valid for four days, cut from fifteen in May 2024 to reduce crowding at altitude. The Inner Line you actually cross is at Chiyalekh, above Dharchula, where the ITBP checks everyone.
The permit is issued by the Sub-Divisional Magistrate at Dharchula. Since 27 May 2024 it can also be processed at Pithoragarh district hospital, rooms 28 and 29, where police verification, the medical check and the notary sit together, so it is possible to arrive at Dharchula with the permit already in hand.
An online portal exists at ilppithoragarh.uk.gov.in. Check it before you travel rather than assuming either way: it has been suspended outside the season, and when it is suspended new registration is closed entirely. Payments made through it are not refundable once a permit is approved.
The Inner Line is not at Dharchula. It is at Chiyalekh, above the town, and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police check the documents of everyone who passes it. You obtain the permit lower down; the line you cross is higher up. In April 2026 a group reached the Adi Kailash area without a permit, the video circulated, and the SDM ordered an ITBP investigation. Enforcement here is real.
The permit is valid for four days. It was cut from fifteen days on 22 May 2024 by the District Magistrate, explicitly to reduce crowding at altitude, and the four-day rule was reaffirmed for the following season. Four days does not accommodate a leisurely trip, and any itinerary that ignores this is not a real itinerary. Confirm the current figure with the SDM office before you fix dates.
A medical check is compulsory at two points, not one: Dharchula and again at Gunji. The District Magistrate directed the Chief Medical Officer to make it so on 22 May 2024. Travellers who arrive with their own certificate have still been made to take the test on the ground. Bring the certificate, and expect to be screened anyway.
Foreign nationals and OCI cardholders are not permitted on this circuit. The Ministry of Home Affairs annexure listing areas opened to foreign tourists does not include it, and KMVN's own indemnity bond describes the yatra as being for Indian citizens. If you hold a foreign passport, speak to us before making any other arrangement.
We do not publish a permit fee. No official figure exists in any government document or mainstream report we could find, and the numbers operators quote range from ₹200 to ₹800 and contradict each other. We would rather tell you we do not know than give you a number to budget against that turns out to be wrong.
Use the official channel. Fake permits were detected in 2025 and common service centre operators were formally warned of legal action. A permit obtained through an agent who cannot show you the official issue is not worth carrying to Chiyalekh.
Layers rather than one heavy jacket, shoes you have already worn in, and sun protection that matters more at altitude than the temperature does. Carry original documents on paper: there is no usable signal for long stretches above Dharchula, and a missing paper ends the trip at Chiyalekh.
Adi Kailash and Om Parvat stay inside India and need only an Inner Line Permit. The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra crosses into Tibet, runs 22 days, costs about 2.09 lakh, caps age at 70 and requires a Chinese visa. We run the first and cannot get anybody a place on the second.