New Delhi: India announced Thursday that it is resuming the issuance of tourist visas for Bangladeshi nationals, hours after Dinesh Trivedi, the Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka, presented his credentials to the President of Bangladesh. Trivedi’s rank has also been assigned the status equivalent of a Union Cabinet Minister in the Table of Precedence (ToP) for ceremonial functions.
“I am coming straight to the Indian Visa Application Centre (IVAC) from the Honourable Rashtrapati’s (President) premises…I am very happy to announce that we are resuming our normal visa applications for tourist visas, which can be submitted from 28 June 2026,” Trivedi said, while speaking at the IVAC.
The senior BJP leader was appointed as the High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh earlier this year and arrived in the country earlier this month.
The move to normalise the issuance of visas comes as both countries seek measures to further improve ties. The India-Bangladesh relationship cratered following the ouster of former PM Sheikh Hasina in August 2024 due to a student-led uprising. For almost two years since then, the relationship has faced difficulties.
India expressed its interest in stabilising ties with the new Bangladesh PM, Tarique Rahman. The leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was elected in February 2026. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri represented the Indian government at Rahman’s swearing-in ceremony.
However, despite the initial efforts, ties remain frosty, largely due to the issue of illegal immigration. Bangladesh has been protesting against the “push-in” policies announced by Indian Chief Ministers, including Himanta Biswa Sarma of Assam.
The issue has led to a back-and-forth between the two foreign ministries. Just last week, a Bangladeshi advisor to Rahman, Zahed Ur Rahman, was stopped at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi for travelling on a SAARC visa. Zahed Rahman was in India to lead the Bangladeshi delegation for a meeting of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA). The Bangladeshi official chose to return to Dhaka, rather than enter India, following his interaction with Indian border officials.
The main casualty of frozen ties has been the number of Bangladeshi nationals legally travelling to India. In 2024, around 1.75 million Bangladeshi nationals arrived in India, which works out to roughly 6,000 tourist visas issued by the IVAC daily.
At the time before Hasina’s ouster, 11 IVACs were operational. Trivedi Thursday announced that five IVAC centres are currently operational.
The new Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka, however, promised Thursday that more IVACs will begin operations soon, apart from the five currently functioning in Dhaka, Rajshahi, Chattogram, Khulna and Sylhet.
The curtailment of the normal issuance of visas led to only 470,000 Bangladeshi nationals travelling to India in 2025. The Bangladeshi missions in India started issuing visas in February 2026. Two centres – Agartala and New Delhi – were closed in December 2025, following the death of political aspirant Sharif Osman Hadi.
The issuance is a part of the overall attempt to stabilise ties in a calibrated manner. Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman travelled to India in April. A number of mechanisms have been activated to discuss various aspects of the bilateral relationship.
However, the consular dialogue remains in cold storage. This mechanism is considered to be the most appropriate forum to discuss the issue of immigration, sources in the past have explained to ThePrint.
The relationship took a serious nosedive during the tenure of Muhammad Yunus, who led the interim government in Dhaka between August 2024 and February 2026. The Nobel laureate had publicly spoken out against India while making foreign visits to third countries, including China.
Rahman’s first international visit as PM was to Malaysia earlier this week. The Prime Minister of Bangladesh is also on a three-day visit to China between 24 June and 26 June.
(Edited by Vidhi Bhutra)
Also read: The anti-India rants that got Bangladesh PM aide on immigration watchlist & stopped at Delhi airport