India set to simplify visa forms

Image used for representational purposes only. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto The government is all set to simplify visa application forms to bring them at par with global standards, a senior government official told The Hindu.Also read | What is a VISA?: how did it start, and why do we need it?Redundant fields in the bulky visa forms would be done away with and the changes were likely to be implemented from next year, the official said.The travel and tourism industry has been seeking the government’s intervention to achieve pre-COVID era foreign tourist footfall, a target which India has not been able to meet yet.According to the Ministry of Tourism data, foreign tourist arrival in 2019, before the 2020 COVID pandemic, stood at 1.093 crore, while in 2025, the number of foreign tourists was 91.5 lakh. In 2024, around 99 lakh foreign tourists arrived in India and in 2023, the number was 95 lakh tourists.Another official said the visa forms were being designed in a way to remove repetitive fields.“The visa forms will be made simpler and user-friendly in the coming days. The changes will reflect in all the 22 visa categories, in accordance with global standards. The forms will be leaner and the number of fields will be reduced by approximately 70%,” said the official.The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has convened several meetings to further liberalise the visa regime.Local addressFields such as “district” will be done away with as there is no global equivalent and the requirement of filling in “local address” is to be liberalised where the foreign tourists could provide the address of the hotel or the guest house in India. At present, an e-visa application runs into nine pages and asks if the applicant has ever been engaged in “cybercrime, terrorist activities, sabotage, espionage, genocide, political killing or any other act of violence.”A tourism industry official, who did not wish to be identified, said they had urged the government to uniformly apply the 120-day application window to all countries.At present, India offers e-visa preceded by electronic travel authorisation (ETA) under nine sub-categories — e-Tourist Visa (for 30 days/1 year/ 5 years), e-Business Visa, e-Medical Visa, e-Student Visa , e-Transit Visa, e-Film Visa, e-Miscellaneous Visa, e-Entry Visa and e-Production Investment Visa — to 147 countries and the application window for some countries is 30 days. The notable exclusion is China, other than Pakistan and Afghanistan.The industry official said the tourism sector had also requested the government to allow e-visas for Chinese travellers.The industry is also pressing that the Protected Area Permit (PAP)/ Restricted Area Permit (RAP) could be provided simultaneously with the visa, rather than applying for it after arriving in India.Foreigners require a PAP to visit Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar Island and certain parts of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand.“We have also requested that other than English, the visa forms should be available in foreign languages such as Spanish, German and Italian. This will enable arrival of more tourists in India,” said the official. Published - November 03, 2026 11:32 pm IST