Modi got 30-plus foreign awards: Did visas become easier for Indians?

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been decorated by more foreign governments than any Indian leader before him. By most counts, the tally has crossed 30. The latest, Uzbekistan’s Order of Highest Friendship (Oliy Darajali Do’stlik), was conferred on him in Tashkent on August 30.

Each ceremony is held up as proof of India’s rising standing in the world. The question for the average Indian traveller is simpler. Has any of it made a visa easier to get?

The passport offers a sobering starting point. In the October edition of the Henley Passport Index, India ranks 84th of 199, with visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 55 destinations. That is two fewer than a year ago.

Siasat.com looked at nine countries that have honoured Modi and are either popular with Indian tourists or have changed their entry rules recently. These are Uzbekistan, France, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Greece, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, the Maldives and Mauritius. It also compared them with a handful of countries that have given him no award but have eased travel for Indians anyway.

Where the doors opened

Uzbekistan is the strongest case. On the day of the award, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced a 30-day visa-free regime for Indian citizens. Indians have so far needed an e-visa.

The fine print matters, though. The announcement came without an effective date and India’s own joint statement after the visit did not mention it. Tashkent has called the arrangement reciprocal, but New Delhi has not said whether Uzbek nationals, who now apply for an Indian e-visa, will get the same.

The visit also produced a tourism cooperation programme for 2026-28 and a deal that lets Indian visitors pay at Uzbek shops by scanning the national UZQR code with UPI apps. However, Uzbekistan’s tourism committee counted about 26,450 Indian visitors in the first half of 2026, out of 6.5 million foreign arrivals.

France gave Modi the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, its highest distinction, in July 2023. Indians still need a Schengen visa and the process has not gotten easier. Nirmal Bhardwaj, manager, visa processing, at Gurugram-based Chime Tours Pvt Ltd, told Siasat.com that travellers still face bottlenecks “around appointment availability and processing timelines, particularly during busy travel periods,” though he did not see a rise in rejections.

The real change came this year. After President Emmanuel Macron’s visit in February, France scrapped the airport transit visa for Indians who stay in the international zone.

“With effect from April 10, 2026, Indian nationals holding ordinary passports no longer require an Airport Transit Visa when transiting through French airports,” Bhardwaj said, calling it “an important facilitation measure.”

There is a catch in reading this as a reward. Germany, which has never decorated Modi, did exactly the same. Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced it in January and the waiver took effect on June 3.

The bigger shift for Indians heading to France came from Brussels, not Paris. Since April 2024, the EU’s “cascade” rules allow Indians who have used two Schengen visas in three years to get a two-year multiple-entry visa, and later a five-year one.

The UAE conferred the Order of Zayed on Modi in 2019. Indian tourists still need a visa arranged in advance through airlines, hotels or agents. What has widened is visa on arrival for Indians who already hold a visa or residence from the US, the UK or the EU. On February 13, 2025, the UAE added Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Canada to that list.

Medals, but the same queue

Greece presented Modi with the Grand Cross of the Order of Honour in August 2023. Indians still need a Schengen visa. Bhardwaj said the Greek visa centre quotes about 15 working days, though some cases stretch to 45 calendar days. “Greece remains a more documentation-intensive destination compared with destinations offering e-visas or visa-on-arrival facilities,” he said.

Russia announced the Order of St Andrew the Apostle for Modi in 2019 and presented it in July 2024. Indians still need a visa, but Russia’s unified e-visa, which covers dozens of nationalities, means no trip to a consulate. Bhardwaj said the official portal puts processing at four calendar days, with no invitation needed. Talk of visa-free group tourism between the two countries has not yet produced a scheme.

Saudi Arabia gave Modi the Order of King Abdulaziz in 2016. When the kingdom opened tourist e-visas in 2019, India was left off the list, and it still is. On July 6 this year, Saudi Arabia piloted a “package visa” that bundles an e-visa with flights and hotels bought through approved providers, with prices starting at SAR 4,000. India is one of seven eligible countries. The others include Pakistan, Bangladesh and Egypt. 

It is a step forward, but not one taken for India alone.

Open doors, open to all

Some of the easiest destinations on the list were easy long before any medal, and they are just as easy for most other passports.

Indonesia conferred the Bintang Adipurna on Modi in July. Indians qualify for visa on arrival (VoA) and the electronic e-VoA, but so do dozens of other nationalities. “From a practical travel perspective, this makes Indonesia a comparatively smooth destination for Indian tourists,” Bhardwaj told Siasat.com.

The Maldives, which gave Modi the Nishan Izzuddin in 2019, grants a free 30-day visa on arrival to visitors from every country. Bhardwaj called it one of the more straightforward destinations for Indians.

Mauritius gave Modi its highest honour in March 2025 and continues to let Indians in without a prior visa. Spending is simpler too. Indian UPI apps and RuPay cards have worked there since February 2024.

No medal, still a welcome

The most generous recent openings came from countries that have not honoured Modi at all.

Malaysia has allowed Indians in visa-free since December 2023 and has extended the waiver to the end of 2026. Thailand went visa-free for Indians in November 2023 and stretched the stay to 60 days in 2024, before cutting it back to 30 days from September 15. 

Both moves were driven by tourism targets, and Thailand’s shows the doors can narrow as easily as they open.

A mixed scorecard

Across the list, the pattern is consistent. Countries that were strict remain strict, the ones that were always open remain open and the cautious ones are moving in small steps that have little to do with ceremonies.

“In practice, visa policy is influenced by several factors, and stronger diplomatic relations do not necessarily result in an immediate change in tourist visa requirements,” Bhardwaj said.

Civilian honours are diplomatic gestures, not policy commitments. Visa rules are set by tourism goals, overstay risk and, in Europe, by Brussels. A photograph from a palace may speak a thousand words. At the visa counter, it says rather less.

Get the latest updates in Hyderabad City News, Technology, Entertainment, Sports, Politics and Top Stories on WhatsApp & Telegram by subscribing to our channels. You can also download our app for Android and iOS.