India reduces visa categories from 13 to 9, merging 49 sub-categories into 23
NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Home Affairs has simplified India’s visa system by reducing the number of main categories from 13 to nine and sub-categories from 49 to 23. Application forms have also been streamlined, with the number of fields cut by 65–70 per cent across all sub-categories.
The revised framework, approved on August 27, 2026, after studying global standards and systems in developed countries, aims to make India’s visa regime more compact, coherent, and responsive to the needs of foreign nationals visiting for tourism, medical treatment, education, research, and business.
The ministry is updating its IT systems and expects visas under the new framework to be issued by the end of 2026.
Tourist Visa Renamed Visitor Visa
One of the most noticeable changes is the renaming of the Tourist Visa as the Visitor Visa. The new category covers a wider range of activities beyond conventional tourism.
It is divided into two sub-categories:
• V-1: Valid for 30 days with multiple entries. It covers short-term activities such as tourism, business meetings, medical consultations, wellness retreats, short-duration medical treatment, and short-term courses in Indian languages, music, art, craft and yoga.
• V-2: Available for longer stays with validity of one, five or 10 years (subject to eligibility). It includes activities under V-1 as well as mountaineering (for which a six-month multiple-entry visa is granted).
Medical Visas Get Longer Validity
The medical visa framework has been restructured while retaining separate provisions for conventional and AYUSH treatments.
• M-1: For medical treatment other than AYUSH systems.
• M-3: For treatment under AYUSH systems.
Both, including their e-visa variants, will generally be granted for one year with multiple entries as the default option. Attendant visas (M-2 and M-4) have also been provided. The longer validity is expected to help patients requiring multiple consultations or staged procedures.
Student and Business Visas Streamlined
Student visas have been consolidated into two sub-categories:
• S-1: For school, graduate and postgraduate education.
• S-2: For PhD scholars, researchers, visiting faculty, internships, exchange programmes and related academic activities.
Eligible students admitted through the Study in India portal may receive an e-S1 visa for up to five years or the duration of the course, whichever is shorter.
Business visas are now divided into:
• B-1: For long-term, licence-based activities, including establishing industrial or business ventures.
• B-2: For short-term, contract-based activities such as conferences, sports, performances, film-related work and production investment business.
A specific provision under B-2 allows foreign subject-matter specialists, engineers and technical personnel engaged by Indian companies to obtain a Production Investment Business Visa through the e-visa platform.
Nine Main Categories
The nine main visa categories under the revised framework are: Business, Diplomatic, Work, Journalist, Medical, Official, Student, Visitor and Miscellaneous.
India currently offers e-visa facilities to nationals of 172 countries. The government expects the rationalisation to reduce overlap between categories, simplify identification of the appropriate visa, cut application time and effort, and support legitimate travel, education, healthcare and economic engagement with the country.
The ministry stated that the changes are designed to provide greater clarity and ease for visitors, patients, students, researchers, investors and business professionals while retaining essential security and eligibility requirements.
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