India Cuts Visa Categories From 13 to 9 and Shortens Application Forms by Up to 70 Percent

India has cut its main visa categories from 13 to nine and its sub-categories from 49 to 23, the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement issued on Wednesday, November 11, 2026. The ministry also cut the number of required fields in visa application forms across all 23 sub-categories by 65 to 70 percent. The revised framework has nine main categories: Business, Diplomatic, Work, Journalist, Medical, Official, Student, Visitor and Miscellaneous visas.

What changed on August 27

The ministry said the main categories were reduced from 13 to nine and the sub-categories from 49 to 23 on August 27, 2026. That step followed an earlier rationalisation in October 2025, when main categories were cut from 22 to 13 and sub-categories from 63 to 49. The ministry is updating its IT systems, and visas under the revised framework are expected to be issued by the end of 2026.

The ministry described the aim in its own words, saying the regime should be "more compact, coherent and responsive to the requirements of foreign nationals visiting India". It also stated the form change directly: "The required fields/columns for all 23 categories/sub-categories of visas have been reduced by 65-70 per cent".

Visitor, medical and student routes

The former Tourist Visa has been renamed Visitor Visa and split into V-1 and V-2. V-1 is granted for 30 days with multiple entries. It covers tourism and also short term business meetings, medical consultations, wellness retreats, short duration medical treatment and short term courses in Indian languages, music, art and craft. V-2 is for longer visits, with validity of one, five or ten years. It covers the V-1 activities plus mountaineering, with a six month multiple entry visa for mountaineering.

Medical visas keep separate routes for conventional and AYUSH treatment. M-1 covers treatment other than AYUSH and M-3 covers AYUSH. Both are granted for one year by default, with multiple entries, including e-visa variants. M-2 and M-4 are attendant visas for companions of M-1 and M-3 holders.

Student visas are consolidated into S-1 and S-2. S-1 covers school, graduate and postgraduate education. S-2 covers PhD and research scholars, visiting faculty, research students, scientific and anthropological expeditions, internships and exchange students. Students admitted through the Study in India portal may receive an e-S1 visa for up to five years or the course duration, whichever is less, with multiple entries.

Business visas and e-visas

Business visas are consolidated into B-1 and B-2. B-1 covers long term licence based activities, including establishing industrial or business ventures. B-2 covers short term contract based activities. A Production Investment Business Visa under B-2, issued through the e-visa platform, covers foreign subject matter specialists, engineers and technical personnel who do installation and commissioning, quality checks, maintenance, production, IT and ERP work, training, supply chain development and plant design. That route was earlier granted under the e-B4 name.

E-visas are currently processed under 13 sub-categories, and the facility is available to nationals of 172 countries. The government said it studied visa systems in developed countries and global standards before making the changes. It said the changes are aimed at boosting foreign tourist arrivals, medical value travel and foreign student arrivals, and at making the regime more compact, coherent and responsive.