India & Bangladesh take steps to normalise issuance of visas as calibrated thaw in ties continues

New Delhi: India and Bangladesh are looking to normalise issuance of visas at their missions, as both countries seek to stabilise ties that were hit following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina as Prime Minister in 2024. “Over the last two years, Indian missions in Bangladesh never stopped issuing visas. Disruptions were witnessed during specific times, while the Indian missions continued to prioritise medical and emergency visas. India will continue issuing visas to Bangladeshi nationals as the case may arise,” a person familiar with the matter told ThePrint. Bangladesh has been a major source of foreign tourist arrivals to India over the past few years. However, according to provisional data made available by the Tourism ministry, in 2025, the total arrivals from Bangladesh was a fourth of the number of arrivals witnessed in 2024, pointing to a steep decline in tourist arrivals. In 2025, provisional data on foreign tourist arrivals released by the ministry indicated that only 4,70,000 Bangladeshis arrived in India. According to Bangladeshi media reports, India was issuing roughly 1,500 visas a day as of September 2025. In 2024, around 1.75 million Bangladeshis arrived in India, according to the Ministry of Tourism’s 2025 data compendium. This works out to roughly 6,000 visas issued daily by the India Visa Application Centres (IVACs) in Bangladesh. Before Hasina’s ouster, 11 IVACs functioned across Bangladesh. In 2025, only five centres continued operations due to the tense diplomatic stand off between both countries. In 2024, around 60 percent of 1.75 million Bangladeshis travelled to India before July. While around 64 percent of all arrivals from Bangladesh in 2024 were for leisure purposes, around 27 percent were for medical purposes. India’s medical tourism industry has been impacted over the last year with the drop in Bangladeshis seeking healthcare within the subcontinent. Similarly, the five Bangladeshi missions in India, have started issuing visas to Indian nationals looking to travel to the neighbouring country. The visa centres in New Delhi and Agartala were closed during the Bangladeshi protests in December 2025, following the death of political aspirant Sharif Osman Hadi. However, around 20 February, both the High Commission in New Delhi and the Assistant High Commission in Agartala started consular services and began issuing visas to Indian nationals, a diplomat familiar with the matter informed ThePrint. “Our missions are providing uninhibited and seamless issuance of visas to Indian nationals,” the diplomat said. According to figures shared by the Bangladesh High Commission to the daily The Indian Express, around 17,000 visas have been issued to Indian nationals by the three Bangladeshi missions in New Delhi, Kolkata and Agartala, this year. Travel between India and Bangladesh has been one of the biggest challenges since Hasina’s ouster in 2024. In the immediate aftermath of the student protests, Indian visa centres were targets of vandalism across Bangladesh. The Indian cultural centre in Dhaka was also heavily damaged by protesters, as the perception remained that Hasina was backed by New Delhi. The interim government took an unfriendly position vis-a-vis New Delhi, going so far as to issue threats to the safety of India’s North Eastern states during a visit to China in March 2025. However, both India and Bangladesh have sought to introduce confidence building measures since Tarique Rahman’s swearing in as Prime Minister on 17 February. The Bangladeshi general elections held in February led to a majority for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri represented India at Rahman’s swearing in. Birla also handed over a personal letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Rahman. Weeks later, Major General Kaiser Chowdhury, Bangladesh’s military intelligence chief, made a visit to India, meeting with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, R&AW chief Parag Jain and his Indian counterpart Lt. General R.S. Raman, as first reported by ThePrint. Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman made an official visit to New Delhi last month and held a number of meetings with Indian officials, including External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Doval. Dhaka’s message remains of calibrated stabilisation with New Delhi. Its quiet resumption of issuance of visas to Indian nationals is a part of the larger move to normalise ties. The sense in New Delhi remains one of optimism. Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Dinesh Trivedi, who was officially appointed as India’s next high commissioner to Dhaka last week, is set to take up his role by the end of May. India sent an additional 40,000 tonnes of fuel to Bangladesh over the last two months as the West Asia conflict hit Dhaka’s energy security. However, while Indian visas for Bangladeshis may not hit the pre-July 2024 levels soon, steps are being taken to normalise the process The story was first published in ThePrint on May 2, 2026, and was written by Keshav Padmanabhan.