India Restores Visas to Bangladesh Amid Ongoing Tensions and Power Dynamics

Sylhet Official Signals Visa Easing

Aniruddha Das, India’s senior consular official in Sylhet on Thursday said it would have full cooperation to improve India-Bangladesh relations and said it was making efforts to ease visa services. Speaking at the Sylhet District Press Club, he said medical and double-entry visas were being issued with steps under way to resume other categories including travel visas.
“India-Bangladesh relations stand on the foundation of mutual respect and honour. The people of both countries will be the principal stakeholders of a stable, positive, constructive, long-term and mutually beneficial relationship,” he said.

Roots of 2024 Visa Shutdown Exposed

On August 8, 2024, amid widespread unrest and only days after Hasina fled to India, India suspended all visa services nationwide. All Indian Visa Application Centres in Bangladesh were closed, New Delhi saying it was a time of “unstable situation,” with concerns over the safety of its missions.
This was the first time India had placed a blanket suspension of visa services in Bangladesh. Although some services underwent some restoration of service, they were largely limited to medical and double-entry visas. Issuance did pick up slowly between early and mid-2025, but remained well below pre-crisis volumes.

2025 Protests Spark Fresh Disruptions

A second major disruption came in November 2025 after fresh anti-India protests tied to the death of radical leader Osman Hadi. Visa centres in Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna and Rajshahi were shut down in swift succession.
In the wake of the violence, Bangladesh’s interim authorities suspended visa services at their own missions in New Delhi, Kolkata and Agartala. 

Tarique Rahman's Win Shifts Dynamics

Days earlier, Bangladesh had entered a new political phase since Tarique Rahman took the reins as the new prime minister of the country. After the Bangladesh Nationalist Party won a two-thirds majority and was sworn-in, Rahman invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to his swearing-in ceremony.
Prime Minister Modi congratulated Rahman on his party’s win, then invited him to come to India after he took oath. India-Bangladesh relations strained after Sheikh Hasina was driven from office in August 2024. Relations soured during the interim government, which was presided over by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, after India hosted former prime minister Hasina.
So there was tension between the two countries and there have been multiple reports of diplomatic ill feeling in the past handful of months.