Union Government has announced to roll out e-tourist visa facility to Chinese nationals from July 30, 2015. Hong Kong and Macao nationals will also be provided with e-tourist visa facility along with Chinese citizens. This decision was taken in lines with promised made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this regard during his visit to China in May 2015. It should be noted that PM Modi had made this announcement notwithstanding frequent issuance of stapled visa by Chinese to Indian citizens from Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. About e-tourist visa facility Union Government had launched this scheme as ‘tourist visa on arrival (VoA)’ in November 2014 for more than 40 countries and was extended to 36 more countries in April 2015. It is pre-authorization of Visa i.e. electronic travel authorisation given to foreigners prior to travel. Under this scheme, an applicant receives an email authorising him/her to travel to India after it is approved. On arrival, the visitor has to present the authorisation to the immigration authorities who will in turn allow them to enter into the country. The nomenclature of scheme was changed to present e-tourist visa facility in April 2015, in order to remove ambiguities faced by foreign tourists especially by scheme’s previous nomenclature VoA.
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