Visa overhaul: Home Ministry slashs categories to 9 from 13, trims application forms by 70%

The Union Home Ministry is set to overhaul India's visa regime by reducing the number of main visa categories from 13 to nine and trimming application forms by 70% as part of an exercise to simplify the process, officials said on October 4.

The decision follows a comprehensive review of the Visa Manual, 2019, aimed at rationalising the system, eliminating obsolete procedures, and limiting the overall categories in which visas can be issued to bring the process in line with global norms.

The overhaul was formalised following a high-level review meeting held in August, where officials decided to introduce sweeping amendments to various chapters and Appendices I and II of the Visa Manual, 2019. Beyond reducing the primary categories, sources said the government will consolidate the existing 49 sub-categories down to 23.

Parallelly, the Centre has decided to make visa application forms leaner by doing away with roughly 70% of the entry fields. The move aims to eliminate overlapping, repetitive, and redundant columns, creating a user-friendly process that minimises errors for applicants and processing missions while keeping core security and background checks intact.

The simplified guidelines are expected to apply uniformly across all remaining visa categories and sub-categories.