India and Pakistan have overhauled the visa agreement after 38 years, introducing new categories of tourism and pilgrims.
The group tourist visa will be issued to not less than 10 people and the maximum size will be 50. They will have to go through an approved tour operator or travel agent.
The pilgrim visa will be issued to visit shrines as per the 1974 protocol on visits to religious places or any future revision to the protocol.
The new visa regime also allows for visa on arrival for those above 65 years at the Attari-Wagah border post, with validity of more than 45 days.
The agreement was supposed to have been signed during the meeting of the Home/Interior Secretaries in May in Islamabad, but Pakistan insisted that it should be done at the political level.
Armed with the authorisation of the Cabinet committee on security, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna signed the agreement with Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Saturday afternoon here.
As per the new agreement, visa has to be issued within 45 days of application. Further, the number of cities allowed to be visited on the visa has been increased from three to five. Visitors can also change the mode and the post for entry and exit, while earlier the port and transport of entry and exit had to be the same.
