Bangladesh restricts tourist visas for Indian citizens

Bangladesh has significantly tightened its issuance of tourist visas for Indian nationals. 

According to a report by BBC Bangla, the Bangladesh embassies in Kolkata, Mumbai, and Chennai have "limited" the issuance of tourist visas starting Wednesday.

 This follows earlier halts in visa processing at the Delhi embassy and the Assistant High Commissioner's office in Agartala.

Currently, the Assistant High Commissioner's office in Guwahati remains the only mission operating to issue visas to Indians without these new restrictions. 

While no official notification has been publicly released, sources within the Bangladesh embassy in Kolkata confirmed the change to BBC Bangla.

However, the issuance of tourist visas is 'limited', but other visas, including commercial ones, will continue, officials said.

After the Sheikh Hasina government was ousted from power on August 5, 2024, through uprising, four Indian visa centers in Bangladesh were vandalised. At that time, protests were also held in front of the visa center in Dhaka.

India then suspended visa issuance for a few days. Although the visa centers were later reopened, Indian authorities said that they would not issue medical visas and other visas except for some urgent needs for the time being.