The Centre on Wednesday announced a rationalisation of India’s visa regime, reducing the number of main visa categories from 13 to nine and sub-categories from 49 to 23.The move is aimed at boosting foreign tourist arrivals, medical value travel and enrolment of international students.The Union Home Ministry has also reduced the number of fields to be filled in visa application forms by 65-70 per cent across all 23 sub-categories, making the process simpler and faster for foreign nationals.The revised framework seeks to eliminate overlaps between visa categories and provide clearer options for visitors, patients, students, researchers, investors and business professionals. Under the changes introduced on August 27, the erstwhile tourist visa has been renamed the visitor visa, while provisions governing medical, student and business visas have also been reorganised.The visitor visa category has been consolidated into two sub-categories, V-1 and V-2.The V-1 visa covers short-term activities such as business meetings, medical consultations, wellness retreats, short-duration medical treatment and short-term courses in Indian languages, music, art and craft. It is granted for 30 days with multiple entries.The V-2 visa is intended for longer-duration visits, with validity of one, five or 10 years, as specified. It covers activities permissible under V-1 and mountaineering. For mountaineering, a visa of six months with multiple entries will be granted. The medical visa framework retains separate provisions for treatment under conventional and AYUSH systems.The M-1 visa covers medical treatment other than treatment under AYUSH systems, while the M-3 visa covers treatment under AYUSH systems.Both visas, including their e-visa variants, will be granted for one year as a default option with multiple entries.Corresponding medical attendant visa provisions are also available. The M-2 and M-4 visas will be granted to attendants of M-1 and M-3 visa holders, respectively.