How to get Ladakh Protected Area Permit Online?

Ladakh Protected Area Permit, or PAP, is a government-issued document to foreign tourists. It is a permit to be allowed entry to restricted areas for a limited period of time. Places located near LOC (Pakistan) & LAC (China) require civilians to acquire this permit in order to visit. The sole purpose of this permit is to keep a check on movement in these areas.

Indian nationals living in India do not need PAP. For them, there is a different permit required called Inner Line Permit. I have covered that topic in a different article How to Obtain an Inner Line Permit for Ladakh.

The Ladakh Protected area permit only applies to foreigners and NRIs. If you were planning a road trip to Ladakh in near future, below is the detailed information on how you can procure this permit from the online portal.

Ladakh Protected Area Permit

Not all areas of Ladakh mandate foreigners to get a protected area permit though. No permit is required for local sightseeing around Leh city, Zanskar Valley, and Suru Valley. You also need to get a permit for traveling to Leh from either Manali or Srinagar. It is only needed after you have reached Leh and want to explore other areas of Ladakh.

The places that you need to get the permit for are as mentioned below.

• Khardung La
• Nubra Valley
• Tso Moriri
• Pangong Tso
• Turtuk
• Dah and Hanu Villages

Foreigners aren’t allowed to go visit Changthang valley. This is the route beyond Man & Merak Villages that will take you to Hanle, Loma, or other villages closer to the border.  However, after procuring PAP, any foreign national can travel as far as villages of Man and Merak or till Loma post if driving through Upshi and Chumathang. Hanle is still not accessible for foreigners.

In Nubra Valley, tourists can now travel as far as Pachatang and Tyakshi villages, beyond Turtuk.  Permits are now also issued for Kargil, Chitkan, Dah, Garkone, Darchik and Batalik.

How to get Ladakh Protected Area Permit Online?

There are two ways to get this permit. You can either get in touch with a registered travel agent in order to acquire a PAP or apply for it online. If you want to know about how to get it from a travel agent, please take look at this article Protected Area Permit Ladakh – Updates, Cost & Procedure.

A few years ago, an online portal for PAP was developed. Now anyone in need of the permit can log in to the official website of Leh and submit a request for PAP. Mentioned below is how you can do it.

1. Open the Ladakh Protected Area Permit Website.
2. To register for a permit, on the home page, click on the Overseas Registrations link.
3. Fill the form correctly, select the firm carefully (once you have selected the firm you cannot change it).
4. Submit the form and keep the print with you for the reference id.

Validity of Protected Area Permit

The Protected Area Permit can be procured only for a maximum of 7 days. However, though, it is not a one-time entry pass. After procuring ILP, you can still visit that particular region as many times as you wish, as long as the permit is still valid. After 7 days, if you wish to stay back and visit more places, you will need to reapply for PAP.

Please carry several photocopies of your PAP with you as you will need to submit one at each check post. So in case you run out of photocopies, you won’t have an option but to come back to Leh to get more.

Conclusion

I hope the details above on Ladakh protected area permit were of help. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask in the comments section below or at our Community Forum, and I will be glad to answer.