The Centre has officially notified 11 international ports, nine land ports, including Attari on the India-Pakistan border, and two airports, allowing e-visa holders to enter India, a government statement released on Monday said.
With the addition of these new ports, the total number of international ports where e-visa holders can enter has risen to 88. This includes 37 airports, 38 seaports, and 13 land ports, aimed at making the e-visa facility more accessible and beneficial for international travellers.
The newly added land ports are Darranga, Gede, Ghojadanga, Haridaspur, Jaigaon, Dawki, Moreh, and Attari (Road), along with the airports in Bhopal and Tirupati.
International travellers holding a Pakistani passport or of Pakistani origin must apply for a regular visa at an Indian Mission, as the e-visa facility is not available to them, according to the government website.
The e-visa facility currently available to 17 sub-categories of travellers, including medical, student, mountaineering, cruise, tourist, transit, group travel and business, among others, processes 95 per cent of applications within 72 hours.
Introduced in 2014 to liberalise and simplify the Indian visa regime for nationals of 43 countries, this facility now serves nationals from 172 countries.
The government has taken several measures in recent years to liberalise, streamline and simplify India’s visa regime while strengthening technological infrastructure to support internal security, the statement mentioned.
The addition of these 11 international ports further increases the appeal and utility of the electronic visa, which constitutes 78 per cent of the total visas issued by India.
“Under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leadership of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Government of India has taken a number of significant initiatives over the last few years to liberalise, streamline and simplify the visa regime with a view to facilitate the legitimate foreign travellers while simultaneously ramping up the technological infrastructure to enhance internal security,” the statement said.
