Australia to introduce label-free visa for Indians from October 1

New Delhi, September 27: Now Indians travelling Down Under will not have to face the hassles of getting a visa labelled on their passport, as Australia is introducing label free visa arrangements from October 1.

"Travelling to Australia will now be a lot quicker and easier for Indian travellers as they will no longer need to have a visa label placed in their passport," said Peter Varghese, Australian High Commissioner to India.

As per the new arrangement, people wanting to travel to Australia will have to apply for visa but they won't have to include their passport with their application.

Instead of a visa label, travellers would receive an electronic visa grant letter the day their visa was granted that would explain all the conditions of their visa.

"This new approach would not only provide Indian travellers with better information about their visas but also reduce processing time and costs as travellers would no longer need to wait to have their passport returned to them by courier," Varghese said.

The label-free travel is not only simpler for the traveller but is also more secure. Unlike a label, which can be misread or manipulated, electronic verification at check-in confirms the real-time status of a person's visa, he added.

The High Commissioner said that the decision to introduce label-free travel arrangements from India has been welcomed by Indian government, airlines and travel and education agents in India.

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In meeting with Zohran Mamdani, Trump repeats claim he stopped India-Pak war

Agencies

November 22,2025

New York/Washington: US President Donald Trump has again claimed to have solved the conflict between India and Pakistan, repeating his assertion during a meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office.

Mamdani flew to Washington DC for his first meeting with Trump in the White House on Friday. Trump said he “enjoyed” the meeting, which he described as “great.”

During remarks in the Oval Office, with Mamdani standing next to him, Trump repeated his claim that he solved the May conflict between India and Pakistan.

"I did eight peace deals of countries, including India and Pakistan,” he said.

On Wednesday, Trump had said he threatened to put 350 per cent tariffs on India and Pakistan if they did not end their conflict, repeating his claim that he solved the fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called him to say “we're not going to go to war.”

Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim over 60 times that he “helped settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan.

India has consistently denied any third-party intervention. India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians. India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.

Mamdani emerged victorious in the closely-watched battle for New York City Mayor, becoming the first South Asian and Muslim to be elected to sit at the helm of the largest city in the US.

He had been the front-runner in the NYC Mayoral election for months and defeated Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and political heavyweight former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent candidate and was officially endorsed by Trump just hours before the elections.

Indian-descent Mamdani is the son of renowned filmmaker Mira Nair and Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani. He was born and raised in Kampala, Uganda and moved to New York City with his family when he was 7. Mamdani became a naturalised US citizen only recently, in 2018.

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