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India resumes tourist visas for Chinese citizens after five-year hiatus
Tourist visas had been suspended in 2020 following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, effectively halting general travel between India and China.
Travel between the two countries had been severely disrupted first due to pandemic-related restrictions and later strained by diplomatic and military tensions. (Image: Unsplash)
India will restart issuing tourist visas to Chinese citizens from July 24, marking the first such move in five years, according to an official statement by the Indian Embassy in Beijing on Wednesday, as per media reports.
In an official post on its Sina Weibo account, the embassy stated that Chinese citizens can now apply for tourist visas by completing the online application process, scheduling appointments, and submitting their passports and required documents in person at Indian Visa Application Centers located in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.
The move marks the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 Galvan Valley border clashes that India has reopened its doors to Chinese tourists.
“Please be informed that all passport withdrawal requests for applications submitted in India Visa Application Center in Beijing must be accompanied by a passport withdrawal letter,” the statement from the embassy added.
Travel between the two countries had been severely disrupted first due to pandemic-related restrictions and later strained by diplomatic and military tensions. While Beijing had earlier resumed issuing visas to Indian students and businesspersons, general tourism between the nations had remained on hold.
Relations began to ease after multiple rounds of military and diplomatic talks, resulting in troop disengagement from several friction points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh. In October 2024, both sides agreed on disengagement plans for the last remaining hotspots - Depsang and Demchok.
The announcement follows recent efforts by both governments to stabilise and rebuild ties. Earlier this year, leaders from India and China discussed resuming people-to-people exchanges, reinitiating direct flights, and restarting the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra - a pilgrimage suspended since the COVID-19 outbreak.
As per media reports, in April 2025, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar noted that India-China relations were moving in a “positive direction,” though more work remains to normalise the relationship.
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