India Resumes Tourist Visa to Chinese Citizens After Five-Year Freeze

(INDIA) India has reopened tourist visas for Chinese citizens worldwide after a five-year freeze that followed the deadly Galwan Valley clash in June 2020, in one of the clearest signs yet of a slow thaw between Asia’s two largest countries. Tourist visa services restarted globally for Chinese nationals on 24 July 2025, after first resuming only through Indian missions in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong. By November 2025, Indian embassies and consulates around the world were again accepting tourist visa applications from Chinese passport holders, restoring a travel channel that had been shut since tensions along the disputed border spiralled into violence.

Why this matters

The visa move forms part of a wider effort by New Delhi and Beijing to repair relations that collapsed after the Galwan Valley clash, where troops from both sides suffered casualties and political trust plunged. In the years that followed, tourist visas were among the most sensitive symbols of that breakdown, with ordinary travelers paying the price through cancelled trips, frozen study plans, and blocked family visits.

According to analysis by VisaVerge.com, the restart of tourist visas is being seen by many travel and education businesses as a practical step that goes beyond diplomatic words and begins to restore real people-to-people contact.

This change turns abstract diplomacy into something concrete for travelers — the chance to submit an application, get a visa sticker in their passport, and board a plane once again.

Timeline of key steps in reopening (selected highlights)

Diplomatic context and impetus

Indian officials have framed the visa change as part of a package of measures linked to improved stability along the Line of Actual Control after an October 2024 disengagement agreement on frontline forces. That agreement, supported by a series of high-level talks, eased some immediate military tensions and opened space for political leaders to move back toward what both governments describe as a “normal” relationship.

A meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping in Kazan, Russia, is widely viewed as the moment when both sides agreed to push faster on normalization, including travel and connectivity.

Flights, tourism and market response

The reopening of tourist visas sits alongside the resumption of direct passenger flights between the two countries, which restarted in October 2025 after a five-year halt. Airlines and tourism operators had long warned that without direct connections, even an open visa system would have limited effect.

Now, with flights back and visas available again through Indian consulates worldwide:

• Tour companies on both sides are preparing packages that disappeared from the market since 2020.
• Travel agents report initial demand from business travelers, students visiting friends, and families who postponed India trips.
• The combination of flights + visas is expected to restore more normal travel flows and make multi-destination itineraries feasible.

Religious tourism: Kailash Manasarovar Yatra

Another important signal in this diplomatic reset is the agreement to restart the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra pilgrimage in Tibet from summer 2026.

• Before the border crisis, thousands of Indian pilgrims traveled each year through Chinese territory to visit Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar.
• The suspension of these journeys after the Galwan clash was deeply felt in religious communities.
• Officials present the planned restart as a gesture combining religious tourism with wider confidence-building, even as border issues continue to be managed through separate talks.

Visa procedure for Chinese tourists (practical steps)

The visa application process for Chinese tourists follows the same basic steps used for many other nationalities. Key steps:

1. Fill out the online visa application form via the official Indian platform: Indian Visa Online portal.
2. Schedule an appointment through the same system.
3. Appear in person at an Indian Visa Application Center to submit your passport, printed visa application, and supporting documents.

Chinese citizens can complete these steps through Indian missions not only in mainland China and Hong Kong, but also at Indian embassies and consulates in other countries where they legally reside or are staying.

Security checks, processing and expectations

Indian officials stress that while tourist visas have reopened, standard security checks remain in place. Key points:

• Applications are reviewed by consular staff and must meet requirements on passport validity, travel purpose, and duration of stay.
• The government has not announced special fast-track lanes specifically for Chinese tourists.
• The expansion of processing to missions worldwide is expected to ease backlogs that might otherwise build up at posts in China during peak holiday seasons and major festivals.

Business travel and simplified procedures

Alongside tourist visas, both governments are quietly working to simplify visa procedures for several traveler categories, including:

• Long-term multiple-entry business visas for senior executives.
• Streamlined processing to restore business confidence after years of travel bans, complex approvals, and sudden rule changes.

Trade between the two countries remained large despite political friction, but executives complained that unpredictable travel rules made planning new projects and investments difficult. Easing access is therefore seen as a step toward more stable commercial ties.

Official reactions

Chinese authorities have publicly welcomed India’s decision to reopen tourist visas. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed readiness to keep communication channels open and to improve personal exchanges, presenting the visa move as part of a broader interest in rebuilding practical links.

For Beijing, the ability of Chinese citizens to visit India again under standard tourist rules carries symbolic weight: relations, while still fragile, are no longer locked in the emergency posture that followed the Galwan Valley clash.

Cultural and commemorative context

The reopening coincides with commemorative events for the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between India and China in 2025.

• Cultural programs, academic exchanges, and trade forums are being used by both sides to rebuild people-to-people exchanges.
• Tourist visas are viewed as foundational for students attending short courses, artists joining festivals, and families planning combined tourism, study, and business trips.

Bottom line

For now, both governments continue to send cautious signals rather than declaring a full reset. Yet the decision to end the five-year halt on tourist visas for Chinese citizens—combined with renewed flights and the planned restart of religious tourism—marks a clear shift from confrontation toward limited cooperation.

For travelers who have waited since the Galwan Valley clash to see the Taj Mahal, visit Indian tech hubs, or reconnect with friends and relatives, the policy change makes diplomacy tangible: the chance to apply, receive a visa sticker, and travel again.