Minorities | India's Home Ministry says Hindu, Sikh, Christian and other minority refugees from Afghanistan who arrived by the end of 2024 must now obtain visas to stay

ACW | November 6, 2026 — India's Ministry of Home Affairs has ordered Hindu, Sikh, Christian and other religious-minority refugees from Afghanistan to obtain visas to keep living in India, in an order published in the official gazette on Thursday.

The order, numbered S.O. 6027(E), was signed in New Delhi on Wednesday, Nov. 4, and appeared in the Gazette of India a day later. It amends last year's exemption order under India's immigration law.

The rule covers members of the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who fled to India because of religious persecution or fear of it, the order says. They must have entered India on or before Dec. 31, 2024.

They remain exempt from holding a passport, whether they arrived without documents or their documents have expired. But each of them must now obtain "an appropriate category of visa" to continue staying in India, according to the order.

An earlier order of Sept. 2, 2025 had exempted them from both passport and visa requirements, Ariana News reported. The Home Ministry has not publicly explained the change in the reports published so far.

Background: Afghanistan International reported that Afghanistan's Sikh and Hindu communities were estimated at about 220,000 people in the 1980s, and that attacks on their places of worship under Taliban rule pushed hundreds to seek refuge in India.

Why it matters: The order itself describes these refugees as people who sought shelter in India because of religious persecution or the fear of it. It now decides the residency of people who left Afghanistan for lack of freedom of religion or belief, and Christians are among the six communities it names.

ACW will continue to follow this story.

Sources: Gazette of India — Ministry of Home Affairs order S.O. 6027(E) (Nov. 5, 2026); Afghanistan International — India makes Afghan Sikh and Hindu refugees' stay conditional on visas; Ariana News — India makes visas mandatory for Afghan Hindus and Sikhs

Photo: A.Savin, Wikimedia Commons (FAL) — Indian government buildings in New Delhi (illustrative)