India tweaks norms for issuance of business visas to Chinese professionals

New Delhi: India has introduced revised procedures to accelerate the approval of business visas for Chinese professionals making short visits, marking another step in efforts to restore normal engagement after years of disruption caused by the standoff in eastern Ladakh. Officials familiar with the matter said on Friday that the changes aim to ensure quicker clearance without altering the existing security vetting for Chinese nationals.

According to the officials, Chinese technicians and specialists arriving for brief assignments had previously been issued employment visas valid for six months or longer. New Delhi has now opted to grant business visas suitable for shorter stays. While the updated norms will extend to applicants from several countries, Chinese nationals are expected to benefit the most. All applications for business visas will be processed within three to four weeks, the officials said.

The move is expected to support companies in India that rely on Chinese machinery and equipment by enabling faster travel for specialists providing technical assistance. It also comes during a period in which India and China have introduced a series of measures to improve ties after the two sides ended their more than four-year military confrontation along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh in October last year.

New Delhi resumed issuing tourist visas to Chinese travellers in July, reversing a suspension that began in May 2020 following the border crisis. Visa restrictions had initially been imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic and remained in place as tensions intensified. Both governments have since agreed on several initiatives intended to revive people-to-people exchanges, including reopening border trade, restarting the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra and marking the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations. Direct flights between the two countries restarted in October.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Tianjin in August on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit. The leaders agreed to strengthen trade and investment ties, manage the long-running boundary dispute in a “fair” manner and expand cooperation to address global challenges. Their meeting followed discussions earlier in the year in which both sides signalled support for a “stable, cooperative and forward-looking” partnership.

Days before Modi’s August visit to China, Foreign Minister Wang Yi travelled to New Delhi where both countries outlined steps to stabilise ties. These included maintaining border peace, reopening trade links along the frontier and promoting investment flows. The two leaders subsequently met again in Tianjin during the SCO summit, after which the first group of Indian pilgrims travelled to Kailash Manasarovar in Tibet. Flights linking several Indian and Chinese cities resumed after more than five years.

China on Friday welcomed India’s decision on business visas, calling it a constructive development. “We’ve noted this positive move,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said in Beijing when asked about the revised approval process for Chinese business travellers. He said that facilitating cross-border mobility “serves the common interests of all parties” and added that China would continue communication with India “to further facilitate people-to-people exchange.”

Chinese authorities have also restarted issuing visas to Indian tourists, including group travellers, in what was described as an important step for normalising bilateral ties after the chill that followed the Ladakh standoff. Relations began to rebound after Modi and Xi met at the BRICS summit in Kazan last year.

Meanwhile, senior officials from the foreign ministries of the two countries held another round of consultations in Beijing this week. Sujit Ghosh, Joint Secretary for East Asia in India’s Ministry of External Affairs, met Liu Jinsong, Director-General of the Department of Asian Affairs, on Thursday. A statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry said both sides noted recent “positive progress” in the relationship and reiterated their commitment to carrying out the understandings reached during the Modi-Xi meeting in Tianjin.

Ghosh also met Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong, who said that the leaders’ discussion in Tianjin had provided direction for taking bilateral relations to “a new level.” Sun called for deeper trust, steady cooperation and careful handling of differences. The statement quoted Ghosh as saying that ties with China are “very important” for India and that New Delhi is prepared to revive institutional dialogue, broaden exchanges and strengthen cooperation under the strategic guidance of the two leaders.