Govt ready for changes in visa rules

New Delhi, March 9: The Centre said Tuesday it was ready to revisit the stringent new guidelines on granting tourist and conference visas if there were genuine grievances. The home ministry has got a number of representations on this. The tourist visa guidelines stipulate a gap of at least two months between two visits to India.

Union home secretary G.K. Pillai said the government was open to amending any rules if any “mistake” had been made. He went on to question how many of the six million tourists who visited India every year returned in 60 days. “Possibly not even 0.1 per cent... If the problem is of that 0.1 per cent, we are ready to see how best that can be corrected.”
Mr Pillai said that the ministry has received a number of representations on conference visas and the government is examining them. “This is under consideration,” he told reporters.

Age Correspondent