India streamlines visa processes for foreign professionals, engineers needed by domestic firms

Domestic companies have simplified and streamlined the process of obtaining e-visas for foreign professionals, including engineers and technical experts, whose services are required for machinery installation, quality checks, training and facility design, the government said on Wednesday (December 17, 2025).

The move is expected to help companies importing machinery from countries such as China. Some Indian companies had previously raised concerns that they were facing problems in obtaining visas for Chinese professionals whose expertise was needed.

Online module for sponsorship letters

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) said it has launched an online module for Indian companies to create sponsorship letters to invite foreign professionals for manufacturing-related activities under the e-Manufacturing Investment Business Visa (EB-4 visa).

The module was launched on November 29. It was stated that the launch of this digital platform is part of a series of reforms initiated under the business visa regime to improve the ease of doing business in India.

An official explained that while the previous process was cumbersome and long, the new system will now help domestic companies obtain e-visas for foreign experts in a shorter time. As of today, 129 sponsorship letters have been produced by Indian companies.

Visa issuance time will be ‘significantly shortened’

Foreign professionals will now use letters to apply for visas and visit manufacturing facilities in India to offer their services, the official said, adding that the time required for the issuance of visas will now be reduced significantly.

“Business visitors were coming to India earlier too, but now the visa process has been streamlined and simplified. It is now largely structured,” the official said, adding that the facility is now available for both PLI (production linked incentive schemes) and non-PLI beneficiaries firms.

In August 2025, the Ministry of Internal Affairs issued a circular to resolve certain issues related to work visa, business visa and e-PLI affairs.

“As part of this circular, two activities that were earlier included in employment (foreign nationals coming for installation and commissioning of equipment under equipment supply contract for which Indian companies pay fees or royalties) are now classified under the business visa regime.”

“Also, a new sub-category of Manufacturing Investment Visa has been created under the Business Visa regime and named B-4 Visa to enable deployment of foreign subject matter experts/engineers/technical persons by Indian companies,” DPIIT said.

Experts are assigned for installation and commissioning; quality control and basic maintenance; producing; Accelerating IT; education; supply chain development for assigning vendors, facility design and training; and senior management and executives will visit India for such manufacturing investment activities without any problems, he added. “Also, the existing e-PLI business visa has been waived,” he said.

Now this Production Investment Visa will be issued as an e-visa and will need to be applied for through the online Visa portal.

EB-4

Additionally, to streamline the visa application process for the EB-4 visa, Indian companies will create their sponsorship letters digitally.

To make this facilitation digitally possible, DPIIT launched the e-Manufacturing Investment Business registration module on the National Single Window System (NSWS) on November 29, which is available to PLI as well as non-PLI businesses.

“The processes have been streamlined with simpler forms and the requirement of recommendation from the Ministry of Lines has been eliminated,” he said, adding that with this module, Indian companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) can instantly generate sponsorship letters to invite foreign professionals for production-related activities under the EB-4 visa category in the NSWS.

Automatic filling of data and automatic authentication through existing databases such as MCA (Ministry of Corporate Affairs), GSTN have eliminated the need for approval from the relevant ministry.

The unique ID of the generated sponsorship letter will be used by a foreign professional when he/she applies for a visa through the e-Visa portal where the module is integrated with NSWS via API.