New Delhi, Aug 5 : India's e-Visa facility is presently available to nationals of 172 countries for entry through 32 designated international airports and six major seaports, the Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar, in a written reply, said that E-Visa is presently available under 13 sub-categories, i.e. e-Tourist Visa, e-Business Visa, e-Medical Visa, e-Medical Attendant Visa, e-Conference Visa, e-Ayush Visa, e-Ayush Attendant Visa, e-Student Visa, e-Student X Visa, e-Transit Visa, e-Mountaineering Visa, e-Film Visa and e-Entry (X-1) Visa.

He said liberalisation and simplification of the e-visa regime, including the visa fee waivers or special visa categories for any specific tourist groups, is an ongoing process which is done after taking into consideration the issues of security, inbound tourism and investments, bilateral relations, on a reciprocity basis, etc.'

A 30-day double-entry e-tourist Visa with a fee of $25 was launched in 2019. To encourage off-season (April-June) tourists, the visa fee of $25 was reduced to $10 during this lean period, he said.

The MoS said that the country has a robust visa regime in place to enable lawful inward movement of foreigners, including foreign tourists, professionals and skilled workforce, business persons and students.

He said the government has taken several initiatives over the last few years to liberalise, streamline and simplify the visa regime to facilitate the legitimate foreign travellers while simultaneously ramping up the technological infrastructure to enhance internal security.

One significant step taken to liberalise and simplify the Indian Visa regime, especially the tourist visa regime, is the introduction of the e-Visa facility

This facility, with Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), was introduced in November 2014 for nationals of 43 countries.

Processing of the e-visa is totally on the online platform. A foreigner can apply for an e-visa from anywhere. Introduction of e-visa has helped in providing hassle-free entry to foreigners into India for legitimate purposes like tourism, business and medical purposes.

/IANS