(Yicai Global) July 12 -- Chinese business people have been complaining about the strict application process they must go through for India visas since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Applying for a business visa for India was the most complicated process in their entire life, many who have been to dozens of other countries told Yicai Global. The rejection rate is also very high, they noted.

Applicants need to submit more than 20 documents, Yicai Global learned at the Indian visa center in Shanghai, and they are all hard to get. But the websites of the Embassy of India, the Consulate of India, and the visa center make no reference to the materials required.

Applicants are even asked to provide information that they usually deem unnecessary for a business trip, such as their educational background and highest academic degree, including notarization of their academic certificates, technical qualification certificates, and their firms’ business licenses. Before the pandemic, such notarized certificates were not needed.

The number of documents asked for is also on the rise. A business women who is in the process of applying for an Indian visa told Yicai Global that she was asked to submit her bank account statements for the past six months, and the recent balance has to be no less than CNY100,000 (USD13,900).

Moreover, the wait is terribly long. Many applicants said they have been standing by for over six months. One had even waited 15 months, with their passport held by the embassy the whole time. By comparison, the wait was about five working days before the pandemic.

India has opened e-visa applications to 166 countries and regions since the pandemic, which usually take up to three days. China and Türkiye are the only two G20 members not to be included, Yicai Global found. India introduced its stricter visa review policy specifically for Chinese citizens in September 2020, according to an Indian media report.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione