India relaxes e-visa policy for Chinese nationals

From October 2019 onwards, Chinese nationals can apply for an e-Tourist visa (e-TV) of a 5-year validity with multiple entries. The visa fee for this 5-year multiple entry e-TV will be USD 80.

Beijing: India has announced significant relaxations in its e-visa policy for Chinese nationals, the Indian embassy in Beijing said, at a time when the leaders of the two nations had met for the second informal summit in Mamallapuram.

"From October 2019 onwards, Chinese nationals can apply for an e-Tourist visa (e-TV) of a 5-year validity with multiple entries. The visa fee for this 5-year multiple entry e-TV will be USD 80," a statement by the embassy read.

Furthermore, it has been decided that the prospective tourists can avail of single-entry 30-day validity e-TV at a reduced visa fee of USD 25, while for a 30-day e-TV during the months of April to June, the visa fee will be only USD 10.

The one-year multiple-entry e-TV will continue to be offered but at a reduced visa fee of USD 40, the release said.

In addition to the above, e-TV, the existing e-medical visa, e-conference visa, and the one-year multiple-entry e-business visa will continue to be issued from the online platform of Indian visas.

It is anticipated that this unilateral liberalisation of e-TV for Chinese nationals will further enhance people-to-people exchanges between the two countries and encourage more Chinese tourists to choose India as a destination for tourism purposes, the release read.