Now, Chinese nationals can apply  for tourist visa from all Indian consulates

In yet another sign of thaw in ties between India and China, the government has expanded ‘tourist visa’ facility for Chinese nationals, allowing them to apply for visa from all Indian embassies and consulates.

This is an expansion of visa facility that India resumed for tourist visas for Chinese nationals in July this year. It had started only through Indian mission in Beijing and consulates in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. The extension to allow the visa facility shows the growing trajectory of bilateral ties.

The Ministry of Home Affairs was in the loop of decision making as the tourist visa facility was suspended due to security-related issues.

Tourist visas for Chinese citizens were suspended following the violent Galwan Valley clash in June 2020, which plunged the relations between the two countries to their lowest point in six decades.

The expansion of tourist visa facility marks another step in the steady normalisation of ties after a tense four-year period triggered by a military stand-off in April 2020 along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Earlier, direct flights between India and China, which were stopped since early 2020 due to Covid scare, resumed in October this year. Both countries also resumed the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra in Tibet this summer.