India to resume tourist visas for Bangladeshi nationals from Sunday, signs of thaw in bilateral ties | Today’s news
India will resume issuing tourist visas to Bangladeshi nationals from Sunday, June 28 from five visa centres, including Dhaka, Indian High Commissioner Dinesh Trivedi announced.
The development comes two years after the Indian High Commission was forced to curtail visa operations due to violent protests during the violent protests that led to the ouster of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
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“I am very happy to announce that we are resuming our regular visa applications for tourist visas that can be submitted from Sunday, June 28, 2026. We will continue to facilitate the processing of medical visas for urgent humanitarian visas,” he said on June 25 at the Indian Visa Application Center (IVAC) at Jamuna Future Park.
Trivedi said the visas will be issued from five centers – Dhaka, Rajshahi, Chittagong, Sylhet and Khulna – across the country and will be expanded further in the future.
“We hope this will further strengthen people-to-people ties between our sovereign nations,” Trivedi said.
Trivedi, the newly appointed Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka, presented his credentials to Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin at the Presidential Palace in Bangabhaban today.
He was welcomed with ceremony at the Bangabhaban, including a guard of honour. Shahabuddin welcomed the new Indian High Commissioner to the country and expressed hope that he would contribute to the development of bilateral ties during his tenure.
Trivedi then visited the Indian Visa Application Center (IVAC) at Jamuna Future Park to review operations where he announced the issuance of tourist visas to Bangladeshi nationals.
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On 5 August 2024, the Indira Gandhi Cultural Center in Dhanmondi was looted and set on fire. Five Indian Visa Application Centers (IVACs) in different cities in Bangladesh were attacked and Indian workers working on development projects were threatened. Due to security threats and attacks on High Commission premises, the Indian High Commission was forced to curtail visa operations in Bangladesh.
However. several Indian visa applicants travel to India for treatment of serious medical conditions and keeping in mind these humanitarian needs, despite the security concerns, the Indian High Commission continued to operate visa centers in Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Sylhet and Rajshahi.
1500 visas across categories
India issues more than 1500 visas daily across all categories except tourist visas. Medical and other emergency visas were processed on a priority basis. Measures have also been taken to help people with urgent needs to apply.
Indian envoy to Bangladesh Dinesh Trivedi arrived in Dhaka by road on 12 June. He entered Bangladesh through the Petrapole-Benapole border.
Trivedi succeeds Pranay Kumar Verma, who served as India’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh for four years until May this year.
He is a former Member of Parliament from Barrackpore, West Bengal. He also served as a union minister during Manmohan Singh’s UPA era, as the member-in-charge of the Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare and then the portfolio of the Ministry of Railways.
The visa renewal comes at a time when efforts by India and Bangladesh to mend relations have been hit hard by Hasina’s ouster and the installation of a caretaker government led by Muhammad Yunus.
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India has shown signs of rekindling ties with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which won the general election in February, by sending Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s inauguration.
Cabinet Minister at Trivedi
The Union Government conferred the status of Cabinet Minister on Trivedi. The move is seen as another signal of the importance New Delhi attaches to relations with Dhaka.
We hope that this will further strengthen the people-to-people ties between our sovereign nations.
Trivedi is the first political candidate to be selected for a key position in Dhaka in nearly five decades. A notification issued by the Union Home Ministry on Wednesday said that Trivedi “has been accorded the equivalent status of a Union Cabinet Minister in the table of precedents”.
