India has reorganised its visa regime, merging similar travel purposes into fewer categories, renaming the tourist visa and sharply cutting the information applicants have to provide. The Home Ministry says the changes are meant to bring more tourists, medical travellers and foreign students to the country.
The overhaul follows two Home Ministry decisions taken over the past year, which together reduced the main visa categories from 22 to nine and the sub-categories from 63 to 23, BusinessLine reported. The latest step took the main categories from 13 to nine and the sub-categories from 49 to 23. The nine are Business, Diplomatic, Work, Journalist, Medical, Official, Student, Visitor and Miscellaneous.
The government said it studied the visa systems of developed countries and global standards before settling on the new structure.
Visitor Visa replaces the tourist visa
The old Tourist Visa is now the Visitor Visa, a name meant to reflect purposes beyond sightseeing. It comes in two forms.
V-1 is for short trips and is granted for 30 days with multiple entries. It covers business meetings, medical consultations, wellness retreats, short-duration medical treatment and short courses in Indian languages, music, art and craft. V-2 is for longer stays, with validity of one, five or 10 years. It covers everything V-1 does and adds mountaineering, for which climbers get a six-month multiple-entry visa.
A traveller who mixes a holiday with a business meeting, a wellness retreat or a short yoga programme no longer has to work out which visa fits, the Ministry said.
Medical Visa built for repeat visits
The framework keeps separate tracks for conventional and AYUSH treatment. M-1 covers treatment outside the AYUSH systems and M-3 covers AYUSH treatment. Attendants get matching visas, M-2 for M-1 patients and M-4 for M-3 patients. M-1 and M-3 visas, including their e-visa versions, will default to one year with multiple entries.
That default helps patients whose care involves several consultations, follow-ups or staged procedures, since one visa can now cover the whole course of treatment. The government ties the change to its “Heal in India” push for medical value tourism.
Student Visa split into two tracks
S-1 covers school, graduate and postgraduate education. S-2 covers PhD and research scholars, visiting faculty, foreign research students, scientific and anthropological expeditions, internships and exchange students. Students admitted through the Study in India portal can get an e-S1 visa valid for up to five years or the length of the course, whichever is shorter, with multiple entries.
Business Visa and a route for foreign specialists
B-1 covers long-term, licence-based business activity, including foreigners setting up industrial or business ventures in India. B-2 covers short-term contract work.
The new provision for subject-matter experts, reported by The Hindu, sits in B-2. It covers foreign specialists, engineers and technical personnel hired by Indian companies for installation and commissioning, quality checks, essential maintenance and production. They can be granted a Production Investment Business Visa under B-2 through the e-visa platform. For manufacturers who fly in overseas engineers to commission machinery, this is likely to be the most consequential change.
Fields in application forms have been cut by 65-70 per cent across all 23 categories and sub-categories. The Ministry said the forms will keep the details needed for processing while dropping the rest.
E-visas are still processed through Electronic Travel Authorisation under 13 sub-categories, and the facility remains open to nationals of 172 countries, BusinessLine reported. The announcement does not change that list.
India received 9.95 million foreign tourist arrivals in 2024. The changes are part of a wider review of the Visa Manual, 2019, aimed at aligning India with global norms.
Reports differ on timing. The Daily Pioneer reported the Home Ministry saying the revised framework would be in place by the end of 2026, while an earlier Hindu report, as relayed by a visa news site, pointed to simplified forms from 2027. Applicants should check the e-visa portal before applying.
