Indian outbound travel to China is rebounding sharply on the back of extra flight capacity—IndiGo’s new Delhi-Guangzhou service, Air India’s restored Shanghai frequency and China Eastern’s marketing push have all driven fares down by an average 18 percent since October. Yet industry players warn that revamped visa rules introduced in December 2025 are creating an unexpected chokepoint.
Under the new process, applicants must first upload digital copies of passports, photos and supporting documents to an online portal and await electronic clearance before submitting hard copies at the Chinese Visa Application Centres. Travel-tech firm Atlys says the additional layer has lengthened end-to-end processing from 4–5 working days to 10–15, while preliminary rejections—often for minor document discrepancies—have spiked. CEO Mohak Nahta told The Economic Times that industry-wide refusal rates approached 40 percent in December, largely due to tighter scrutiny of bank balances and itinerary authenticity.
For travelers looking to sidestep these pitfalls, specialist agencies can be invaluable. VisaHQ, for example, provides Indian applicants with a step-by-step digital checklist for Chinese visas, pre-screens documents to catch common errors, and arranges appointment scheduling once pre-approval is secured—significantly reducing the risk of costly rejections. Full details are available at https://www.visahq.com/china/.
![Chinese visa demand from India surges—but new online pre-approval pushes rejection rate to 40 percent]()
Tour operators fear momentum will stall just as leisure interest broadens beyond the Beijing-Shanghai-Xi’an “golden triangle” to Chengdu, Chongqing and Yangtze cruise itineraries. Corporate travel managers are also scrambling to reschedule trips, with some shifting meetings to Hong Kong or Bangkok until visas come through. Unlike India’s own e-Visa or visa-on-arrival schemes for many markets, China still requires in-person biometric capture for most nationalities—a sticking point for time-poor executives.
For mobility professionals, the key is expectation management. Experts advise building a minimum 15-day buffer into travel plans, pre-reviewing bank statements for the required ₹100,000 average balance and double-checking that invitation letters match passport details exactly. Companies sending technicians or trainers on M-visas should explore the five-year multiple-entry option recently piloted in Shanghai, Jiangsu and Liaoning, which can mitigate repeat-application pain once the initial hurdle is cleared.
Although some consultancies anticipate teething issues will subside by the second quarter, others say Beijing’s move signals a wider trend toward digital pre-screening and data-sharing between embassies and domestic security agencies—meaning documentation standards are unlikely to loosen soon. The silver lining: once online approval is granted, in-person appointments are reportedly faster, with application-centre staff able to scan QR codes rather than inputting data manually.
Under the new process, applicants must first upload digital copies of passports, photos and supporting documents to an online portal and await electronic clearance before submitting hard copies at the Chinese Visa Application Centres. Travel-tech firm Atlys says the additional layer has lengthened end-to-end processing from 4–5 working days to 10–15, while preliminary rejections—often for minor document discrepancies—have spiked. CEO Mohak Nahta told The Economic Times that industry-wide refusal rates approached 40 percent in December, largely due to tighter scrutiny of bank balances and itinerary authenticity.
For travelers looking to sidestep these pitfalls, specialist agencies can be invaluable. VisaHQ, for example, provides Indian applicants with a step-by-step digital checklist for Chinese visas, pre-screens documents to catch common errors, and arranges appointment scheduling once pre-approval is secured—significantly reducing the risk of costly rejections. Full details are available at https://www.visahq.com/china/.
Tour operators fear momentum will stall just as leisure interest broadens beyond the Beijing-Shanghai-Xi’an “golden triangle” to Chengdu, Chongqing and Yangtze cruise itineraries. Corporate travel managers are also scrambling to reschedule trips, with some shifting meetings to Hong Kong or Bangkok until visas come through. Unlike India’s own e-Visa or visa-on-arrival schemes for many markets, China still requires in-person biometric capture for most nationalities—a sticking point for time-poor executives.
For mobility professionals, the key is expectation management. Experts advise building a minimum 15-day buffer into travel plans, pre-reviewing bank statements for the required ₹100,000 average balance and double-checking that invitation letters match passport details exactly. Companies sending technicians or trainers on M-visas should explore the five-year multiple-entry option recently piloted in Shanghai, Jiangsu and Liaoning, which can mitigate repeat-application pain once the initial hurdle is cleared.
Although some consultancies anticipate teething issues will subside by the second quarter, others say Beijing’s move signals a wider trend toward digital pre-screening and data-sharing between embassies and domestic security agencies—meaning documentation standards are unlikely to loosen soon. The silver lining: once online approval is granted, in-person appointments are reportedly faster, with application-centre staff able to scan QR codes rather than inputting data manually.
