India tweaks norms for issuance of business visas to Chinese professionals

New Delhi, Dec 12 (PTI) India has brought in changes in norms to ensure expeditious approval of business visas to Chinese professionals visiting the country for short periods, a move that comes amid efforts by the two sides to rebuild ties that came under severe strain following the eastern Ladakh border row.

However, there are no changes in the existing vetting process of all Chinese visa applicants, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.

Chinese professionals coming to India for short periods were earlier issued employment visas or "E" visas with a validity of six months or more.

It has now been decided to grant them business visas which are valid for short periods, the people said.

The changes in the norms will be broadly applicable to visa applicants from all countries, but Chinese nationals are expected to be the main beneficiaries.

All the applications for business visas will be processed within a period of three-four weeks, the people said.

New Delhi's decision is likely to help travel of Chinese experts to India to provide technical support to companies in various sectors using Chinese equipment and machines.

In the last few months, India and China have initiated a series of measures to normalise their relations after ending the over four-year military face-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh in October last year.

In July, India resumed granting tourist visas for Chinese nationals.

Issuance of visas to Chinese nationals were suspended following the start of military stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh that began in May 2020.

India and China have in recent months agreed on several people-centric steps to reset their ties.

These include agreement to resume Kailash Manasarovar Yatra, resumption of direct flights, commemoration of 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations and visa facilitation.

The direct flights between the two countries resumed in October.

In August, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to deepen bilateral ties to combat pressing challenges and work towards a "fair" solution to the festering border issue.

In a meeting in the Chinese city of Tianjin on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Summit, Modi and Xi also vowed to expand trade and investment ties to stabilise global commerce.

Days ahead of Modi's trip to China, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited New Delhi India that saw both sides unveiling a series of measures for a "stable, cooperative and forward-looking" relationship that included jointly maintaining peace along the frontier, reopening border trade and promoting investment flows. PTI MPB ZMN