India restores e-visa for 156 countries

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has restored the electronic visa (e-visa) facility for foreigners from 156 countries, who intend to visit India for business, conferences, and medical reasons, including in the case of medical attendants. E-visa for tourists is yet to be restored.

Though the facility was available to 171 countries, after restrictions were announced in 2020, it has been restored only for 156 countries. China, the U.K., Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia are notable exclusions.

In an order issued on March 30th, the MHA said that “e-Visa under the following categories viz. e-business visa, e-medical visa, e-medical attendant visa and e-conference visa has been restored with immediate effect.”

The relaxation for foreign visitors comes in the wake of a deadly second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that has claimed 1.7 lakh lives so far. The number of persons infected with COVID-19 increased from 59,118 on March 25 to 2,00,739 on April 14.

India had earlier relaxed visa restrictions on October 22, 2020, enabling foreigners to come to India for business, conferences, employment, education, research and medical purposes, after availing regular visas from missions and embassies abroad.