China moves India visa submissions to its embassy and Mumbai consulate

Direct consular handling started on October 26

China’s embassy in India and its consulate general in Mumbai began directly accepting and processing Chinese visa and consular-legalisation applications on October 26, 2026, according to an embassy notice dated October 22. Services for the Kolkata consular district are temporarily handled by the embassy in New Delhi. Applicants arranging a current submission should therefore establish the responsible mission before travelling to a former application-centre location.

The announcement links separate instructions for visas, document legalisation and fees. Those are connected services, but not interchangeable applications. Someone seeking a mainland travel visa needs the visa procedure; someone preparing a civil document for use in mainland China may also need the legalisation procedure. The change in receiving office does not itself create visa-free eligibility, approve a pending file or remove category-specific evidence. The embassy’s dated transfer notice is the starting point for identifying the new handling arrangement.

Online review comes before passport submission

The updated visa instructions allocate Maharashtra and Karnataka residents to Mumbai. Residents of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal temporarily use New Delhi, as do applicants in other areas. Applicants complete the form and upload supporting documents through the Chinese consular visa platform for online review. No fee is payable at that online-review step.

After online review is approved, the notification starts a 30-day period for submitting the passport, application form and relevant documents at the mission, with fingerprints where required. Online-review approval should therefore be distinguished from the completed visa. The notice temporarily exempts short-term visa applicants staying no more than 180 days from fingerprint collection until December 31, 2026, while separately describing long-term and multiple-entry attendance rules. Read the current category instructions rather than assuming an exemption means no physical-document submission. These instructions concern mainland visas; Hong Kong and Macao follow their own authority channels.

Demand drafts replace assumptions about payment methods

The October fee notice lists Indian-passport visa charges of INR2,900 for single entry, INR4,400 for double entry, INR5,900 for six-month multiple entry and INR8,800 for multiple entry lasting 12 months or longer. Third-country passport holders must use the applicable nationality table, which includes reciprocity-based exceptions. An Indian resident holding another country’s passport should not automatically use the Indian-passport price.

The missions currently accept only bank-printed demand drafts, not cash, personal cheques or other payment methods. The fee notice gives different payee wording for New Delhi and Mumbai and requires the applicant’s name, pick-up-slip number and contact telephone number on the reverse. Use that notice when arranging payment after the collection instructions are available. Paying the right amount to the wrong mission or preparing an incomplete handwritten draft can leave a practical problem even where online review has succeeded.

Civil documents may need a separate legalisation chain

The companion legalisation notice says the Hague Apostille Convention does not apply between China and India for this purpose. Documents issued in India for use in mainland China must follow local notarisation, Indian External Affairs Ministry or authorised-office legalisation, and Chinese consular legalisation. The notice distinguishes Hong Kong and Macao, where the circulation of public documents with India is governed by the Convention. Applicants should establish the destination in which the document will actually be used.

Legalisation applicants need the signed application form, identity evidence, and the original document with a copy; agents need their own identification as well. The notice does not accept mail or fax applications and warns against altered, incomplete or expired documents. Use its detailed procedure to establish whether a marriage certificate, civil record or commercial document is ready for submission. Legalisation confirms the relevant seal or signature; it should not be confused with the separate decision on a travel visa.

Plan the remaining steps without assuming a guaranteed decision

The immediate practical sequence is to identify the mission, complete online visa review, watch for the submission notification, prepare the required originals and arrange the correct payment instrument for collection. Where authenticated records are required, start that chain separately rather than discovering an unfinished document at the passport-submission stage. None of the transfer notices promises that changing the receiving office guarantees approval or makes an incomplete application acceptable. Existing applicants needing file-specific handover clarification should use the mission contacts in the current visa instructions.