India has quietly removed one of the biggest practical irritants faced by manufacturers trying to bring specialist talent into the country. Late on 17 December the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) switched on a new online module that allows Indian companies to generate a government-verified sponsorship letter in minutes and attach it to an e-Production-Investment Business Visa (popularly called the e-B-4 visa). The move is part of a broader redesign of India’s business-visa regime that began in August and aims to make visa issuance almost as fast as ticketing an airline seat.
Until now, firms installing imported machinery or commissioning new production lines had to shuttle paper files between several ministries before an employment visa could even be lodged. That process routinely took three to six weeks, and each delay meant idle equipment, expat day-rates and missed delivery schedules. DPIIT officials told The Times of India that the new platform has already delivered 129 sponsorship letters since a soft launch on 29 November and that processing times at Indian missions abroad have dropped to “a few days”.
For companies or specialist contractors that prefer not to wrestle with multiple portals, VisaHQ can manage the entire e-B-4 submission—from generating the DPIIT sponsorship letter to lodging the final visa request—through its integrated platform (https://www.visahq.com/india/). The service includes document pre-checks, deadline tracking and courier support, helping project teams secure clearances without losing valuable production time.
![India launches digital sponsorship module to speed e-visas for foreign experts]()
The e-B-4 sub-category covers foreign engineers, quality-assurance specialists, plant-design consultants, IT ramp-up teams and senior executives visiting both PLI and non-PLI factories. Crucially, it shifts two common activities—machine installation/commissioning and fee-based consultancy—out of the more restrictive employment-visa channel and into the business-visa stream. Integrated APIs pull company data directly from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and GST databases, eliminating the need for separate line-ministry approvals and paper seals.
For global mobility managers the reform removes a chronic headache: coordinating simultaneous work-permit applications in India and exit-permits in the assignee’s home country. HR teams can now obtain the sponsorship letter before flights are booked, reducing project-slippage risk. Consultants expect demand spikes in the electronics, renewables and automotive sectors, where production-linked-incentive deadlines are looming. Travel suppliers, meanwhile, anticipate a rise in short-cycle, specialist trips that bypass longer-term deputation models.
Practical tip: Companies must first register on the National Single Window System, create a project profile and upload a passport scan for each expert. The system generates a unique ID that the foreign national must quote when filing the e-visa on India’s standard portal. DPIIT says it will hold quarterly stakeholder clinics to iron out teething problems as volumes rise.
Until now, firms installing imported machinery or commissioning new production lines had to shuttle paper files between several ministries before an employment visa could even be lodged. That process routinely took three to six weeks, and each delay meant idle equipment, expat day-rates and missed delivery schedules. DPIIT officials told The Times of India that the new platform has already delivered 129 sponsorship letters since a soft launch on 29 November and that processing times at Indian missions abroad have dropped to “a few days”.
For companies or specialist contractors that prefer not to wrestle with multiple portals, VisaHQ can manage the entire e-B-4 submission—from generating the DPIIT sponsorship letter to lodging the final visa request—through its integrated platform (https://www.visahq.com/india/). The service includes document pre-checks, deadline tracking and courier support, helping project teams secure clearances without losing valuable production time.
The e-B-4 sub-category covers foreign engineers, quality-assurance specialists, plant-design consultants, IT ramp-up teams and senior executives visiting both PLI and non-PLI factories. Crucially, it shifts two common activities—machine installation/commissioning and fee-based consultancy—out of the more restrictive employment-visa channel and into the business-visa stream. Integrated APIs pull company data directly from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and GST databases, eliminating the need for separate line-ministry approvals and paper seals.
For global mobility managers the reform removes a chronic headache: coordinating simultaneous work-permit applications in India and exit-permits in the assignee’s home country. HR teams can now obtain the sponsorship letter before flights are booked, reducing project-slippage risk. Consultants expect demand spikes in the electronics, renewables and automotive sectors, where production-linked-incentive deadlines are looming. Travel suppliers, meanwhile, anticipate a rise in short-cycle, specialist trips that bypass longer-term deputation models.
Practical tip: Companies must first register on the National Single Window System, create a project profile and upload a passport scan for each expert. The system generates a unique ID that the foreign national must quote when filing the e-visa on India’s standard portal. DPIIT says it will hold quarterly stakeholder clinics to iron out teething problems as volumes rise.
