Govt decides to liberalise e-visa regime from 30 days to 4 months

India has decided to liberalise e-visa regime from today by increasing the time limit for seeking the entry permit from existing 30 days to a maximum of four months. The duration of stay for foreigners, coming into the country through select categories of e-visa, has also been extended to two months from existing one month. 

The liberalisation of the visa regime will considerably facilitate entry of foreigners into India for tourism, business and medical purposes. Consequently, the arrival of foreigners is expected to go up in the coming years. This will give a boost to tourism, medical and business sectors resulting in substantial increase in direct and indirect employment in these sectors.

Under the new simplified visa regime, e-tourist visa,



e-business visa and e-medical visa will be the three new sub-categories for grant of e-visa. According to an official release, both business and medical visas will be granted within 48 hours of application upon urgent requests. In addition, Intern or (I) visa and Film or (F) visa will be granted for foreigner seeking internship in non-government organisations, and those seeking to shoot movies in India. 

In November last year, Union cabinet had approved the changes in India's visa regime with an objective of making India an attractive destination for foreign direct investment. E-visa facility has been extended to the nationals of 161 countries for entry through 24 airports and three Indian ports to tap the potential of cruise tourism from different countries.