India simplifies visa norms

The government has simplified its visa regime by reducing the categories from 13 to nine and making the application forms leaner by up to 70%, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a statement.

The “Tourist Visa” has been renamed “Visitor Visa”, reflecting a broader range of permitted purposes beyond conventional tourism, the Ministry said.

A specific provision, the Production Investment Business Visa, has been carved out for foreign subject-matter specialists, engineers and technical personnel engaged by Indian companies in activities such as installation and commissioning, quality checks and essential maintenance, production, IT, training, supply-chain development, plant design and bring-up, senior management and technical support, including transfer of know-how, technology and services.

“The step aims at making it more compact, coherent and responsive to the requirements of foreign nationals visiting India. On August 27, 2026, MHA reduced the number of main visa categories from 13 to nine and the number of sub-categories from 49 to 23,” it said.

This follows the earlier rationalization done in October 2025, when the main visa categories were reduced from 22 to 13 and sub-categories from 63 to 49. While enacting the changes, the government studied the visa systems of developed countries and global standards.

The Ministry said the consolidation of similar travel purposes aims to provide greater clarity and make it easier to identify the appropriate visa category while facilitating legitimate foreign arrivals.

Currently, e-visa is processed through electronic travel authorization (ETA) under 13 subcategories. The e-visa facility is currently available to nationals of 172 countries.

The visitor visa category is organized into two subcategories, V-1 and V-2, so applicants can select a visa suited to the nature and duration of their proposed visit.