Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 5
India issued over 25 lakh e-visas last year, a five-fold jump from 2015, said officials in the MHA, noting that visa sub-categories have been reduced from 104 to 65 to rationalise the visa regime.
A senior official in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said, “The number of e-visas issued by the Bureau of Immigration, which functions under the ministry, has risen from 5.29 lakh in 2015 to 25.15 lakh last year.”
He then went on to add that the number of regular or paper visas issued by Indian missions abroad has come down from 45 lakh to 35 lakh during the same period.
The e-visa facility now covers 166 countries and foreigners can obtain online visa within 72 hours for travel related to tourism, business, health, medical attendance and conference purposes.
The scope of film visa has been increased to include web shows and series and survey of locations. No registration is now required if visitors with film visa stay up to 180 days in India, the official informed.
The officials in the MHA claimed that the measures, which have been taken, have removed several of the existing obstacles in implementation of the film visa regime and is expected to promote India as a favourite destination for shooting of various kinds of films and shows.
The scope of tourist visa has been expanded by including activities like short-term, unstructured courses (up to six-month duration) on local languages, music, dance, arts and crafts, cooking, medicine and also voluntary work up to one month.
The provisions of internship visa have been liberalised. Earlier, it was given only after graduation or completion of study. “Now, a foreigner can come for internship in India at any time during his studies,” the official said.
166 countries covered
- The number of e-visas has risen from 5.29 lakh in 2015 to 25.15 lakh last year. The e-visa facility now covers 166 countries.
- The number of regular or paper visas issued by Indian missions abroad has come down from 45 lakh to 35 lakh in the same period.
- Foreigners can obtain online visa within 72 hours for travel related to tourism, business, health, medical attendance and conference purposes.
from The Tribune http://bit.ly/2LsUuHc
via Today’s News Headlines
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