Govt eases visa processes for foreign professionals, engineers needed by Indian firms

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) said it has introduced an online module that allows Indian companies to generate sponsorship letters for inviting foreign professionals for production-related activities under the e-Production Investment Business Visa (e-B-4 Visa).

The module was launched on November 29 this year. According to DPIIT, the rollout of the digital platform is part of a series of reforms under the business visa regime aimed at improving ease of doing business in India.

An official said the earlier procedure was cumbersome and time-consuming, and the new system will help domestic firms obtain e-visas for foreign experts within a shorter timeframe. So far, 129 sponsorship letters have been generated by Indian companies.

Using these letters, foreign professionals will apply for visas and visit Indian manufacturing units to provide their services, the official said, adding that the time taken to grant visas will now be significantly reduced.

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

In August 2025, the Ministry of Home Affairs had issued a circular to address certain issues related to employment visas, business visas and e-PLI business.

Under this circular, two activities that were earlier covered under employment visas—foreign nationals visiting India for installation and commissioning of equipment as part of a supply contract, for which Indian companies pay fees or royalty—have now been shifted to the business visa category.

“Further, a new sub-category of Production Investment Visa has been created under the Business Visa regime and called the B-4 Visa for enabling foreign subject matter specialists/ engineers/ technical people being engaged by Indian companies,” DPIIT said.

These experts are engaged for installation and commissioning; quality checks and essential maintenance; production; IT ramp-up; training; supply chain development for empanelment of vendors; plant design and bring-up; as well as visits by senior management and executives to India for such production investment activities, it added. “Moreover, the existing e-PLI business visa was dispensed with,” it said.

The Production Investment Visa will now be issued as an e-visa and must be applied for through the online visa portal. To further ease the application process for the e-B-4 visa, Indian companies will digitally generate sponsorship letters.

For this purpose, DPIIT launched the e-Production Investment Business registration module on the National Single Window System (NSWS) on November 29, which is available to both PLI and non-PLI businesses.

“Processes have been streamlined with simpler forms, and the recommendation requirement of the Line Ministry has been done away with,” it said, adding that the module enables Indian companies and limited liability partnerships (LLPs) to instantly generate sponsorship letters on NSWS for inviting foreign professionals for production-related activities under the e-B-4 Visa category.

Auto-population of data and automatic authentication through existing databases such as the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) and GSTN have removed the need for line ministry approval.

The unique ID generated with each sponsorship letter will be quoted by the foreign professional while applying for a visa on the e-Visa portal, with the module integrated with NSWS through an API.