New visa rules to help married Indian expats

 Indian nationals who have married foreigners abroad can now have their spouse's Indian tourist visa converted to an "entry" or X2 dependent visa, without them having to leave the country.

In a tweet last month, India's Home Minister Rajnath Singh, said that the Home Ministry has been directed to "amend the visa rules and streamline the process. This change will facilitate the conversion of tourist visa to X2 even when the marriage takes place on foreign soil."

The move came after the Filipino spouse of an Indian national, who were married outside India, faced difficulties in converting a tourist visa to X2 (dependent visa) as the existing rules did not permit them to do so, unless the spouse left the country and came back on a new visa.

Singh had also said about the Filipino spouse case: "As per the [old] visa manual, tourist visa can be converted to X2 visa only when the marriage takes place in India and gets registered within the validity of the present tourist visa. Hence she was given exit to come back on X2 visa."

The husband had earlier complained to the minister, after which the changes were implemented.