The Union Cabinet gave an approval to liberalise the visa regime in the country by merging conference, tourist, business and medical visas into one.
A go-ahead has also been given to introduce a fresh category of ‘internship visa’ for foreigners who want to gain professional experience in India. From now on, the electronic tourist visa will be known as electronic visa and visitors can apply through the existing online portal.
More nations covered
The Cabinet meet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi also decided to extend the e-visas to eight more countries, taking the total number of countries covered under the scheme to 158.
“A foreign national visiting India for tourist, business, conference and medical purposes will be able to apply under a single category through electronic means as the earlier segregation of it being only for tourists has been done away with,” said a Home Ministry official.
The Cabinet has given its approval for rationalisation of the existing visa regime in India and incremental changes in the visa policy decided by the Ministry of Home Affairs in consultation with various stakeholders, an official statement said.
The long-term, multiple-entry visa will be given up to 10 years but under this category the visitor will not be allowed to work or stay permanently, an official said.
Except those covered under the 10-year travel and trade visa policy, citizens of other countries will be offered five-year multiple visa for travel and trade.
As per the proposal, if a foreigner is granted long-term, multiple-entry non-working or non-permanent stay visa and his or her stay is restricted to 60 days on a visit, the government may waive the visa fee as well. However, the visitors have to give biometric details and fulfil certain security obligations, the official said.
