Category Archives: Visa

Nepal has temporarily suspended its visa-on arrival system till the end of April and has also cancelled all the spring mountaineering expeditions, including that to Mount Everest, as precautionary steps to combat the spread of the coronavirus, a government official said here on Friday. A day after the World Health Organization on Wednesday declared COVID-19 as a pandemic, the Nepali government on Thursday took these decisions, Xinhua news agency reported. Nepal has so far reported only one coronavirus case and the infected person has already recovered, according to the Ministry of Health and Population. “Visa-on arrival for nationals of all countries has been suspended until April end,” Bikas Devkota, a spokesperson at the Ministry, told Xinhua on Friday morning. “Suspension of this facility begins on Saturday.” Earlier, the Nepal government had suspended visa-on arrival for nationals of China, South Korea, Japan, Iran, Italy, Spain, Germany and France. Devkota said that the Nepali government has not suspended providing other types of visas. According to the decisions taken by the High Level Coordination Committee formed to combat the COVID-19, even diplomatic and official passport holders who come to Nepal for the first time or return to after staying abroad should stay in self-quarantine in Nepal for 14 days. The Himalayan nation has also suspended the facility of entry through the land routes for foreigners except Indian nationals from March 14 to April 30. “Cross-border movement of Nepali and Indian nationals will be allowed through certain border crossings only,” the decision read. Nepal and India share a porous border and there are more than 100 border crossings between the two neighbours. Regarding the cancellation of the spring mountaineering expeditions, Meera Acharya, Director at …

In accordance with the ordinance of the Federal Minister of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection about measures concerning the entry from SARS-CoV-2 risk areas, the form issued has to be filled by individuals declaring their health status.

The Indian government has announced the suspension of all regular visas to India in view of rapid surge of COVID-19 cases in the country. In an order, the Health Ministry said all existing visas except diplomatic, official, UN/International organisations, employment and project visa are suspended till 15th April 2020. This will come into effect from 1200 GMT on 13th March 2020 at the port of departure. Any foreign national who intends to travel to India for compelling reason may contact the nearest Indian mission, visa-free travel facility granted to OCI cardholders is also kept in abeyance till 15th April,” read a communique, issued after a meeting of a Group of Ministers. All incoming travellers, including Indian nationals, arriving from or having visited China, Italy, Iran, Republic of Korea, France, Spain and Germany after 15th February 2020 shall be quarantined for a minimum period of 14 days. Incoming travellers, including Indian nationals, are advised to avoid non-essential travel and are informed that they can be quarantined for a minimum of 14 days on their arrival in India. The notification also strongly advised Indian nationals to avoid all non-essential travel abroad. Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the novel coronavirus a pandemic.

Hardeeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (I/C), Civil Aviation, has advised travellers to voluntarily get themselves checked for COVID-19, in case they have any symptoms. Addressing a press conference on the issue, he said, “My advice to everyone, whether they have gone as a tourists or have come in to India as part of a tour group, if they have symptoms, they should get themselves checked. While the numbers of cases of COVID-19 in India is not very high, we can’t afford to take chances. If someone came in before the universal checking of all passengers at airports started, they should come forward for a check in case of any symptoms. Some people have been identified already, and if they show any signs, they will be immediately tested. We are taking all external precautions needed, and the cabinet secretary is taking meetings every day. Under the overall control of PMO, and the PM personally, we have two groups—one is a group of ministers headed by Mr. Harshvardhan, of which I am a member. There is another group headed by the Cabinet Secretary. Each of these groups meet a number of times to take stock of the situation. It’s a case where all parts of the Government are active and in 24-hour contact with each other.”

VFS Global invites all members of the travel trade to participate in the webinar today that will highlight the organisation’s new initiatives to ensure seamless visa application experiences, as well as the optional services on offer to customers. It will be held at 12 PM today. Sanjeet Joher, Head – South Asia, VFS Global, says, “The travel agent fraternity is a key partner in the VFS Global ecosystem, and it is important for us to collaborate for a smooth peak travel season. Our webinar will help educate them on the services we offer and answer their top queries on visas.” Those who are interested in participating can get in touch with Jaspreet Kaur for further information either via email jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or call +91-9650196532.

VFS Global, in an exclusive partnership with the Embassy of Vietnam in India, launches the first official digital Vietnam eVisa on Arrival (eVoA) solution. Travellers can easily apply on https://vietnam.vfsevisa.com/ before departure to Vietnam. For those who seek a visa urgently to travel to Vietnam, the option of special priority services on the same day (as well as next day approvals) is now available on this officially recognised online solution. The cost of the priority services is slightly higher than the cost of the normal visa processing service. On the occasion of the visit of Vietnam’s Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh to India, VFS Global and the Embassy of Vietnam in India signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation for tourism promotion and facilitation of human mobility. In 2019, more than 18 million travellers visited Vietnam from across the globe compared to 15 million travellers in 2018.

With peak travel season around the corner, VFS Global invites the travel trade fraternity to a webinar to learn more about the organisation’s new initiatives to ensure seamless visa application experiences, as well as the optional services on offer to customers. The webinar is scheduled for 26 February 2020 at 12 PM, and will highlight how VFS Global and the travel fraternity can work together for a smooth summer season.

To take it’s customer experience a level up, VFS Global has revealed that it is toying with the idea of offering its customers the option of picking up their passports without entering its visa application centre. Speaking about this is Belson Coutinho, chief marketing officer, VFS global, who said, “We are exploring a feature in Mumbai where it is like a drive-through concept where people who want to pick up their passport can drive through and collect it without entering the vac. We hope we get thhis opportunity because it largely depends upon the infrastructure and space we are able to get at the VAC but that’s a concept we want to adopt. ” He added that 2020 is going to be the year of customer experience for VFS Global. It had also recently Upgraded its VACs.

VFS Global is increasing its manpower and visa handling capacity by 40 per cent across its centres in South Asia region ahead of the peak season rush. Sharing the news, Sanjeet Joher, Head- South Asia, VFS Global, said that they are working to enhance the visa appointment system as well, apart from extra operational hours. “We are increasing the size of our team to provide better services to our customers. We want to ensure that they have a seamless experience when they visit VFS with the help of our customer relationship managers across our centres. In our efforts to educate the trade about our services and initiatives, we will organise more training sessions and roadshows with travel agents. We also want to debunk myths around visa application and procedures,” he said.

VFS Global is soon going to open an exclusive Visa Application Centre (VAC) dedicated only for travel agents and tour operators. Sharing details, Sanjeet Joher, Head- South Asia, VFS Global, said that the VAC will provide visa assistance to travel agents for non-Schengen countries and visas that don’t require biometric data. He also shared that VFS Global will also have dedicated helpline number for travel agents apart from special weekend visit to arrangements for large groups. He briefed that there will also be dedicated counters/time slots for travel agents across VFS Global facility location across India.