'SOP for visa of Chinese technicians needed in mfg units in final stages'

After formulating a standard operating procedure (SOP) for streamlining visa approvals for Chinese professionals whose expertise is required by vendors under the PLI scheme, the government is in the final stages to put in place similar processes for other manufacturing units, an official said.

The move assumes significance as some domestic manufacturing firms have flagged the issue of delay in getting visas for Chinese technicians, who are required for works like installation or repair of certain machines, besides training workers in India.

"Most of the PLI (production-linked incentive scheme) visas have been taken care of. For general manufacturing also, we are trying to create a better streamlined SOP... that is with the Ministry of Home Affairs. It's at the final stages. We are hoping to sort it out. We have done a lot of sensitisation," the official said.

The rollout of SOPs does not require any approval from the Union cabinet as it is an internal process to relax norms "a bit"