India Overhauls Visa Regime: Main Categories Cut to Nine, Forms Slimmed by 70 percent

In one of the most far-reaching immigration reforms since the electronic visa was introduced a decade ago, India’s Ministry of Home Affairs has approved the second phase of its visa-rationalisation drive. An evening notice released on 12 November (IST) confirmed that the number of main visa categories has been reduced from 13 to nine and sub-categories from 49 to 23. The MHA says the change will take effect once back-end IT systems and staff training are complete “before the end of 2026”, but foreign nationals may begin applying under the new nomenclature as soon as Indian missions receive technical clearance. What has changed? Most visibly, the Tourist Visa has been renamed the Visitor Visa and split into V-1 (short-stay, multi-purpose, 30 days) and V-2 (long-validity, one/five/10 years) to cover business meetings, wellness trips, short courses and even mountaineering. Student visas have been collapsed into two sub-groups (S-1 for school to postgraduate studies, S-2 for research, faculty exchanges and internships), and an e-S1 option—valid for up to five years—will be available through the Study in India portal. Medical visas, business visas and attendant categories have each been reorganised to separate long-term, licence-based activity from short-term, contract-based work. Behind the scenes, the government says it has removed 65–70 percent of the data fields on application forms. Officials told reporters that visa officers previously had to process 240 separate data points for a single tourist application; that will fall to around 80 once the new form goes live. The move should cut average e-visa processing times—already under 72 hours for 95 percent of cases—to “well under 48 hours”. For global mobility managers the biggest win is clarity. HR teams that previously worried about whether an overseas engineer belonged in the e-B4 or e-B3 bucket, for example, will now funnel such talent through the Production-Investment Business Visa under the broader B-2 label. The simplified structure is expected to cut legal advisory costs, reduce inadvertent mis-filings and make it easier to plan hybrid work trips that combine business meetings with short courses or family visits. Practical tips: (1) check your global template letters—everything from invitation letters to assignment contracts will need the new category labels; (2) monitor VFS appointment calendars closely once the e-forms are switched, as a front-loaded surge of re-filed applications is likely; and (3) revisit mobility cost projections—some sub-category fees are expected to change once the Finance Ministry notifies the new schedule of charges later this quarter.