NEW DELHI: India has re-started issuing visas to citizens of Taliban-ruled Afghanistan in six categories, including Student, Business, Medical, Medical Attendant, Entry and UN Diplomat, according to notification issued by the government.
Incidentally, the government’s decision has come nearly five years after India suspended all visa services to Afghan nationals and had closed its embassies and consulates following a regime change in that country.
In the mean time, though the government of India did not make any formal announcement with regard to the resumption of visa services to Afghan nationals, a window on the country’s visa portal has been created for online application, which reads ‘Afghan Visa (For Afghanistan National) Apply Here’.
On the portal, once somebody clicks on the window, the next page opens with six separate links – Business Visa, Student Visa, Medical Visa, Medical Attendant Visa, Entry Visa and UN Diplomat Visa and on the website it is written “Afghan nationals may apply for an online visa”.
According to the guidelines issued on the website, the applicant must upload “a recent front facing photograph with white background and photo/bio page of Passport and National Identity Card (Tazkira) containing personal details such as name, date of birth, nationality, expiry date etc.”
Artists, cultural personalities, academicians, and professionals intending to visit India to participate in cultural events or activities sponsored by reputed institutions for short duration without remuneration may apply for “entry visa”, it is said on the portal.
“Children from previous marriages of an Afghan national, who is presently married to an Indian Citizen/Person of Indian Origin/OCI cardholder” may also apply under this category.
Afghans, who own property in India, dependent parents of a student visiting India for higher education and parents of a student below the age of 18 may also apply for entry visas, it said.
Under the “business” category, sportspersons and coaches - including those engaged in commercial sports events in India, on contracts with remuneration - may also seek India visa.
Those Afghan nationals, who want to come to India to establish an industrial or business venture and to those required to travel frequently on long-term business activities, as well as for investors and their dependents, are permitted to apply.
Visas to Afghan nationals were suspended by the Indian government after the Taliban took over the administration in Afghanistan in August 2021. On August 17 of that year, an “e-Emergency X-Miscellaneous visa” facility was put in place for stranded Afghan citizens, but most such visas were only granted to those from the Hindu and Sikh communities.
It is to be noted here on May 15, India made the first ministerial outreach in Kabul when External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held a telephone conversation with Afghanistan’s Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. That conversation came days after the Taliban administration, which India has yet to officially recognise, condemned the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 civilians were killed.