India simplifies visa rules, reduces categories to 9 from 13

The Union government on Wednesday reduced the number of Indian visa categories to 9 from 13 and sub-categories to 23 from 49. The number of fields in visa application forms was also reduced by 65% to 70%.

The Ministry of Home Affairs said the revised framework was aimed at making the process easier to navigate for foreign citizens visiting India for tourism, medical treatment, education, research and business.

The latest changes follow an earlier revision in October 2025, when the government reduced the number of visa categories to 13 from 22 and sub-categories to 49 from 63.

The nine main visa categories are: business, diplomatic, work, journalist, medical, official, student, visitor and miscellaneous.

The tourist visa was renamed as the visitor visa to cover a wider range of activities beyond tourism. This includes business meetings, medical consultations, wellness retreats and short-term courses in Indian languages, music, art and craft.

The visitor visa has been divided into two sub-categories, V-1 and V-2.

The V-1 visa will be valid for 30 days with multiple entries. The V-2 visa will be available for one year, five years or 10 years, depending on eligibility. While V-1 will cover short-term activities, V-2 will cater to a variety of purposes, includingmountaineering.

Medical visas have been divided into M-1 for treatment outside traditional Indian medicine systems and M-3 for ayurveda, yoga, unani, siddha and homeopathy treatments. Both will generally be valid for one year with multiple entries. Accompanying attendants will need separate visas.

Student visas have been grouped into S-1 for school and higher education, and S-2 for research, PhD programmes, internships, faculty visits and student exchanges. Eligible students may receive multiple-entry visas for up to five years or the duration of their course, whichever is shorter.

Business visas have been divided into B-1 for long-term activities, such as setting up a venture, and B-2 for short-term activities, including conferences, sports, cultural events and production-related work.

The revised framework also provides foreign specialists, engineers and technical personnel engaged by Indian companies an option to obtain a production investment business visa under the B-2 category. This covers assignments involving installation, commissioning, maintenance, quality checks, training, production support and technology transfer.

The home ministry said the revised forms would require less information from applicants while retaining the details needed to process visa requests.

Visas under the new system are expected to be issued by the end of 2026.

Nearly 25,000 foreign citizens are currently living in India on employment visas.

Over 18 lakh medical and related visas were issued between 2023 and 2025, while nearly 5,000 traditional medical treatment and attendant visas have been granted since the scheme was launched earlier this year.

Written by Sara Varghese. Edited by Abeer Khan.