India has decided to simplify the visa forms
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The government is all set to simplify visa application forms to be at par with global standards, a senior government official told The Hindu.
Also read | What is VISA?: how did it start and why do we need it?
Redundant fields in bulky visa forms will be removed and the changes are likely to be introduced from next year, the official said.
The tourism industry is seeking government intervention to achieve foreign tourism exposure before the COVID era, a goal that India has so far been unable to meet.
According to Ministry of Tourism data, foreign tourist arrivals in 2019, before the 2020 COVID pandemic, were 1.093 million, while in 2025 the number of foreign tourists was 91.5 million. About 99 million foreign tourists arrived in India in 2024 and 95 million tourists in 2023.
Another official said the visa forms were designed to eliminate repetitive fields.
“Visa forms will be simpler and more user-friendly in the coming days. The changes will be reflected in all 22 visa categories in line with global standards. The forms will be slimmer and the number of fields will be reduced by around 70%,” the official said.
The Union Home Ministry has convened several meetings to further liberalize the visa regime.
Local address
Fields like ‘district’ will be removed as there is no global equivalent and the requirement to fill in ‘local address’ is to be liberalized where foreign tourists can provide the address of a hotel or guest house in India. Currently, the eVisa application is nine pages long and asks if the applicant has ever been involved in “cybercrime, terrorist activities, sabotage, espionage, genocide, political killing or any other act of violence.”
A tourism official, who did not want to be identified, said he had urged the government to apply the 120-day application window uniformly across countries.
Currently, India offers e-Visas preceded by Electronic Travel Authorization (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-Visae-Visae-Visae and e-Film Visa. e-Production Investment Visa — to 147 countries and the application window for some countries is 30 days. A notable exception is China, apart from Pakistan and Afghanistan.
An industry official said the tourism sector has also asked the government to allow e-visas for Chinese travelers.
The industry is also pushing that the Protected Area Permit (PAP)/Restricted Area Permit (RAP) can be granted at the same time as the visa, rather than applying for them on arrival in India.
Foreigners need PAP to visit Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and certain parts of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand.
“We have also requested that visa forms be made available in foreign languages such as Spanish, German and Italian in addition to English. This will allow more tourists to come to India,” the official said.
Published – 03 Nov 2026 23:32 IST