The Chinese Embassy in India and Chinese Consulate General in Mumbai began handling visa and consular legalization applications Monday, requiring visa applicants to submit documents at diplomatic missions instead of three application centers.
The change took effect Oct. 26. Visa centers in New Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata have stopped accepting new applications. Applications from the Kolkata consular district will be handled temporarily by the embassy.
For mainland China visas, residents of Maharashtra and Karnataka submit their passports and supporting documents to the Mumbai consulate. The embassy in New Delhi handles applicants elsewhere in India, including those in Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal.
Applicants still begin by completing a form and uploading documents through the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs visa portal. After receiving an online-review approval email, they have 30 days to submit their passports and other required documents to the designated mission. The email confirms preliminary review; applicants collect a visa later in the process.
The embassy announced its online visa application system in December 2025. The latest change affects the subsequent document submission. Applicants pay no fee at the online step, but visa fees are due when they collect the visa.
For Indian passport holders, a single-entry visa costs Rs 2,900 and a double-entry visa costs Rs 4,400. The embassy and consulate currently accept consular fee payments only by bank-issued demand draft.
The residence-based assignment applies to visa applications. For consular legalization, the mission depends on where the document was issued. The embassy’s visa instructions cover mainland China; travelers to Hong Kong and Macao are directed to separate procedures.
The former centers remain responsible for returning documents already processed there. The centers list a collection cutoff of 6:30 a.m. UTC on Friday, Oct. 30 (noon India Standard Time, inferred from the centers’ locations).
