- 16 countries including Nepal, the Maldives, Bhutan, and Mauritius provide visa-free entry to Indian passport holders
- There are 43 countries that provide visa-on-arrival facility and there are 36 countries that provide an e-visa facility to Indian ordinary passport holders, Centre informed Rajya Sabha.
The Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday that a total of 16 countries including Nepal, the Maldives, Bhutan, and Mauritius provide visa-free entry to Indian passport holders.
As per information provided by the minister of state for external affairs V Murleedharan, the countries providing visa-free entry are Barbados, Bhutan Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Hong Kong SAR, Maldives, Mauritius, Montserrat Nepal, Niue Island, Samoa, Senegal, Trinidad, and Tobago, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Serbia.
In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Murleedharan pointed out that 43 countries provide visa-on-arrival facility and 36 countries provide e-visa facilities to Indian ordinary passport holders.
Iran, Indonesia, and Myanmar are among those that provide visa-on-arrival facilities, and Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and Malaysia belong to the group of 26 countries that have an e-visa facility, according to the information provided by Murleedharan.
The minister said that the government has been making efforts to increase the number of countries that offer visa-free travel, visa-on-arrival, and e-visa facility to Indians with a view to ease international travel.
While the issuance of the visa and the conduction of visa-related process is the sovereign and unilateral decision of the respective country, the matter regarding easier and liberalized visa policy for Indian nationals is taken up regularly in bilateral meetings and forums with foreign countries, he added.
Meanwhile, the Donald Trump administration is set to make it tough for US firms to hire foreigners on H-1B non-immigrant short-term visas by limiting the definition of ‘specialty’ occupation and raising minimum wages for employees. Both these measures would ensure that Americans are not displaced or denied employment because migrant workers are available at cheaper rates.
(With PTI inputs)
