28 airports, 5 seaports designated to process e-visas: Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday said that 28 airports and five seaports across the country have been designated as being eligible to process e-visas facilities.

"Today e visa is fairly recent and started a few years ago. But it covers 169 countries. We give e-visas under five different categories initially it began with tourists and we are expanding it," Jaishankar said non-resident Indians (NRIs) in London through video conferencing on the occasion of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas here.

"We also expanded airports in India where you can land with e visa. Today 28 Indian airports and 5 Indian seaports have been designated as being eligible to process e-visas," the diplomat said in response to a question on the recent work done to ease the e-visa facilities.

The minister further stressed that the government has also expanded the spectrum of e-visas through which people can avail it for a short term as well as long duration.

"They can also get visas simple. I am glad to know that the United Kingdom is one of the largest users of e-visas. I hope the visa regime at the other end also becomes easier," he said.

During the interaction, Jaishankar also thanked the Sikh community for their appreciation of the efforts undertaken by the Indian government to commemorate the occasion of Guru Prav all across the globe.

Jaishankar also spoke to NRIs in Australia, Surinam, the US, Singapore, Qatar, Malaysia, the UK, and Mauritius, and said that he would find a practical solution to the issue of tracing of roots for NRIs and persons of Indian origin (PIOs).