New Delhi stopped these services a month ago at Indian offices in Canada and for Canadian citizens in other parts of the world.

The High Commission on Wednesday announced the resumption of issuance of business visas, medical visas and conference visas, as well as applications from people with family ties in India.

Restrictions on applying for tourist, student and journalist visas appear to remain in place.

The resumption of processing applications for what India calls “entry visas,” reserved for “persons of Indian origin” or Indian citizens, their spouses and children, follows online outcry from Canadians who are unable to see their loved ones during the busy wedding season were able to visit in this country.

India last month restricted the issuance of visas after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in the House of Representatives that Canadian intelligence agencies were investigating “credible” information about “a potential link” between the Indian government and the killing of a Canadian Sikh leader in British Columbia last month June.

India stopped issuing visas to Canadian citizens in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver on September 21 and eventually also stopped issuing visas to Canadian citizens in other parts of the world.

Ottawa relieved

New Delhi claimed in September that its diplomats could not safely go to work in Canada. However, in an interview with The Canadian Press three weeks earlier, High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma said he was “very pleased” with the way Canada had strengthened its protection of Indian diplomats.

The diplomatic mission said it decided to resume processing certain visa services from Thursday “after a careful review of the security situation, taking into account certain current Canadian measures in this regard.” The High Commission notes that “further decisions, if any, would be proposed based on a continuous assessment of the situation.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Immigration Minister Marc Miller called the decision a “good sign” after “a troubling time” for many Canadians. However, he recalled that this suspension for his government “should never have happened in the first place.”

Disaster Management Minister Harjit Sajjan also welcomed this “good news” but declined to speculate on the message New Delhi wanted to send. Speaking to reporters in Ottawa, he also argued that “it would have been good if they hadn’t decided it from the start.”

Minister Sajjan added that Ottawa continues to hope for India’s cooperation in the police investigation into the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. “A Canadian was killed on Canadian soil and we are calling for greater cooperation in the investigation,” the minister said.

In a statement, the Canada-India Business Council said it was a “promising development” for trade between the two countries. “It is also a positive sign that both governments have expressed support for bilateral business and investment in these unusual times,” wrote the panel’s president, Victor Thomas.

Protection of diplomatic personnel

Before Mr. Trudeau’s announcement significantly heightened tensions between Canada and India, New Delhi had publicly denounced protests by Sikh separatist groups outside its diplomatic missions in Canada and put up posters apparently offering cash rewards for Indian diplomats’ addresses.

India has officially asked Canada to better fulfill its duty to protect foreign diplomats.

Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said on September 14 that Indian diplomats in Canada “benefit from round-the-clock security,” a service Ottawa offers to very few diplomatic missions.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said late last week that his country was considering easing visa restrictions. “We stopped issuing visas to Canada because it was no longer safe for our diplomats to go to work to issue visas,” he said Sunday.

Minister Jaishankar also criticized the federal Liberals in comments that analysts said represented a departure from New Delhi’s usual rhetoric on Canadian politics.

“The issues we have concern certain aspects of Canadian politics and the resulting public policies,” Mr. Jaishankar said.