China issues visas to 85,000 Indians till April 9, says ‘welcome more Indian friends’

China is making serious efforts to woo Indians to visit the country. The Chinese Embassy and Consulates in India have issued over 85,000 visas to Indian citizens as of April 9. The move comes as part of China’s efforts to simplify the travel process for Indians who want to visit the country.

Chinese Ambassador in India Xu Feihong urged more Indians to visit China and explore the country, calling them ‘friends’.

“As of April 9, 2025, the Chinese Embassy and Consulates in India have issued more than 85,000 visas to Indian citizens traveling to China this year. Welcome more Indian friends to visit China, experience an open, safe, vibrant, sincere and friendly China,” he wrote in a post on X on Sunday.

Earlier in March, the Chinese Ambassador had announced that the country had issued over 50,000 visas to Indians.

“While flowers blossom in spring, we welcome more Indian friends to visit China and get a first-hand experience of China in spring,” Feihong had said at the time.

China visa norms for Indians

Over the recent months, China has introduced several relaxation in the visa process involving Indian citizens. New Chinese visa rule changes include doing away with mandatory online appointments, reduction in visa fees and more. The steps are being taken to facilitate travel between the countries.

Here are the relaxed Chinese visa rules for Indians:

No more online appointments: Indians who apply for Chinese visas will no longer be mandatorily required to book an appointment online anymore, facilitating a faster and smoother visa application process.

Biometric exemption: Indian applicants are also no longer required to submit their biometric data if they want to visit China for a short period, which reduces visa processing time.

Faster processing: China has also streamlined the visa approval timeline to ensure quicker approvals, making the process smooth.

Reduced visa fees: Chinese visa fees has also been cut down to accommodate more Indian tourists in China.

Tourism encouragement: The Chinese Embassy in India and other authorities across the nations are promoting Chinese tourism to woo more Indian travellers.

India-China travel agreement

In January this year, India and China agreed to resume direct air services after nearly five years and work on resolving differences over trade and economic issues.

The decision came after a meeting between India’s top diplomat Vikram Misri and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The Ministry of External affairs said that both sides would negotiate a framework on the flights’ resumption at an “early date”.

Tensions had soured between India and China in the wake of the 2020 clash between troops along their border in the Himalayas, which killed at least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese.

However, the relations have improved since an agreement in October to ease a military standoff on the mountainous border, the same month that President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks in Russia.