Category Archives: Visa

The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has awarded VFS Global an extension to its global contract for visa processing services in four regions – Asia and Oceania, Europe and Russia, Middle East and Africa, and the Americas. VFS Global currently operates 101 Visa Application Centres across 39 countries for Norway. VFS processes approximately 260,000 Norway visa applications globally each year and travellers from China, Russia, Thailand and India account for most of the inbound traffic into Norway. Chris Dix, Head – Business Development, VFS Global, remarked, “We are delighted to continue our partnership with the Norwegian government. This is not only commercially important for VFS Global, but also in demonstrating the Norwegian government’s trust in VFS, further reinforcing our company’s position as the leading  visa services partner to Schengen member states and to 57 client governments worldwide.” The Royal Norwegian Government reported the country’s tourism industry had another record year in 2016, following strong growth in the number of visitors in 2015. Figures compiled by Statistics Norway show average annual growth in the number of foreign visitors to Norway has exceeded the international average since 2010.

Boosting bilateral engagement with India, the United Arab Emirates will open several new consular centres in India. “Under the present circumstances, if people from Chandigarh, Chennai and Hyderabad want a visa to the UAE, they have to travel to either Mumbai or Delhi or Kerala. So to prevent hardship for the people, we are soon going to open our consular and visa centres in these cities,” said Dr Ahmed Albanna, ambassador of UAE. The UAE will be investing $75 billion of its sovereign wealth fund in the country. The announcement on expanding consular footprint of UAE came even as diplomatic sources confirmed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Abu Dhabi in February 2018. Expansion of consular services of UAE will help the Indians in the country who constitute one of the largest overseas Indian populations. (Source: The Hindu)  

Gulf Air in partnership with VFS Global launched a Bahrain Tourist Visa Service exclusively for the airline’s passengers flying across its global network to Bahrain. Travellers with return tickets of Gulf Air can now conveniently apply for a visa to the Kingdom of Bahrain online via visa.gulfair.com or by visiting their local Gulf Air sales office with the necessary documents no more than 30 days prior to travel to submit their application. Captain Waleed Abdul Hameed Al Alawi, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Gulf Air said, “We are delighted to launch the Bahrain Tourist Visa Service, making the process of obtaining a visa to enter Bahrain easier. We anticipate positive feedback from our customers and look forward to welcoming more people from around the world to Bahrain to experience all that the Kingdom has to offer.” Vinay Malhotra, COO – Middle East & South Asia, VFS Global said, “The dedicated online platform not only makes applying for a visa to Bahrain quicker and more convenient than ever before, but also provides passengers with 24×7 accessibility and online tracking of their visas.”  

Expanding its network of Cyprus Visa Application Centres in India, VFS Global has launched new centres for applicants in four additional cities of Thiruvananthapuram, Goa, Gurgaon and Jaipur. The centre in Thiruvananthapuram was inaugurated by Demetrios A. Theophylactou, High Commissioner of Cyprus to India. Theophylactou said, “The opening is quite timely, also due to a noticeable increase in visa related queries from Kerala. I believe that this centre would further enhance visa services and also promote people-to-people contacts, thus contributing to our bilateral relations. The centre would work in close cooperation with the Consular Department of the High Commission to achieve the goal of efficient issuance of visas.” Vinay Malhotra, Chief Operating Officer – Middle East and South Asia, VFS Global said, “Cyprus is fast emerging as a popular destination of choice for leisure and business travellers from India due to its abundant natural beauty and historical heritage. We are proud to expand the network of Cyprus Visa Application Centres across the South Asia region as a whole.”

BLS International Services has signed a contract with Embassy of the People’s Republic of Algeria in India to offer visa outsourcing and consular services through five visa application and attestation centers in New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Trivandrum. BLS international is accredited to facilitate Algerian visa processing in India from submission of applications to collection of visas along with attestation services. This contract has been signed to provide efficient visa and attestation services to people traveling to Algeria for business, work or leisure. Shikhar Aggarwal, Joint Managing Director, BLS International Services, says, “We cherish the progressive relations with the Embassy of the People’s Republic of Algeria and are delighted to have been chosen to provide consular services to them in India. It has been our endeavor to always provide state-of the-art services to our clients by creating value for our stakeholders.” While signing the contract, Algerian Ambassador in India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Nepal, H.E Hamza Yahia-Cherif said, “We are pleased to have partnered with BLS International for facilitating Algeria visa processing in India. We hope this association to be fruitful and that it will further strengthen the Algerian-Indian relationship in future.” BLS International shall also aim to provide advance value added services like door-stop delivery / courier facility of passports, SMS, assistance in filling visa application forms, printing and photocopying for the benefit of visa applicants at the premises. All BLS centres are equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and trained staff to provide complete hassle free services to visa application.

Simplifying its visa regime for Indians, Japan will issue multiple-entry visa for short-term stay starting January 1, 2018. Under the new rules, there will be relaxation in terms of visa application documents as well as expansion scope of eligible applicants, as revealed in an official release. Applicants will now have to submit only three documents to get multiple-entry visas to Japan. The applicant’s employment certificate and explanation letter stating the reason will be exempted in cases of applying for multiple-entry visa. The required documents would include passport visa application form (with photo) and papers to prove the financial capability (for tourism purpose)/documents to prove the applicant’s affiliation to certain enterprises (for business purpose). Multiple-entry visas with a maximum validity of five years and a stay of 90 days will be issued to applicants who have travel records to Japan twice or more in the last one year. In this case, the eligible applicants may submit only their passports and visa application form, as per the release.

Having successfully managed the Thai Visa Application Centres in western India, Cox & Kings Global Services (CKGS), has now been empanelled by the Royal Thai Embassy in Delhi and the consulates in Chennai and Kolkata to expand its services across the country. The new centres located in New Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata are now operational. In the next phase of operations, offices will be open in Tier-II and III cities that have huge traffic from India to Thailand. The service is open to customers and travel agents/tour operators as well. CKGS values its customers and travel agents who avail services from our respective offices. Venku Murthi, Chief Operating Officer, CKGS said, “The expansion of our services on an all-India level is an affirmation of the confidence that the Thai government has in CKGS and we will maintain our professional standards as we move to other locations in India to boost Thailand tourism.” CKGS will provide services such as disseminating visa related information provided and approved by the Thai Embassy and its consulates as well as pre-scrutiny of documents and acceptance of visa application and passports from the general public and travel agents. CKGS was incorporated in 2008 and is a specialist business process outsource agency which focuses on serving Consular sections of Diplomatic Missions. It renders services related to Visa, Passport and other Consular services to various Diplomatic Missions across the globe – key customers being Ministries of India, Italy, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, UAE, Oman and its latest addition is Algeria.

VFS Global recently received authorisation from the Royal Thai Embassy in New Delhi and its Consulates in Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai to process Thailand Visa Application Centres across India. In order to provide convenience to the travellers from across East, West, North and South India, VFS Global has expanded its network of Thailand Visa Application Centres to 13 cities. VFS Global has already been servicing Thailand visas in East, North and South India, with centres in the cities of Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Bengaluru, Gurugram, Kochi and Chandigarh. With the addition of operations in Western India, travellers can now also apply for a Thailand visa at any one of the VFS Global Thailand Visa Application Centres in Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Goa. Vinay Malhotra, Chief Operating Officer – Middle East and South Asia, VFS Global, says, “Thailand has long been a popular destinati0n for Indian travellers, and a long-standing partner of VFS Global. For well over a decade, we have proudly served The Royal Thai Embassy and The Royal Thai Consulate General in India, with nine centres. It is therefore an honour to announce that VFS Global has been authorised to expand its Thailand visa services across India through its network of visa centres in 13 cities.” With Thailand emerging as one of the top destinations for Indian travellers, VFS Global’s appointment as a service provider will greatly benefit the growing volumes of applicants from India. When applying through VFS Global, applicants will be able to avail of the additional benefits on offer across VFS Global’s Visa Application Centres including services such as SMS updates, courier services, online tracking services, among others.

According to Passport Index developed by global financial advisory firm Arton Capital, Singapore tops the rank of being the most powerful passport in the world under the Global Passport Power Rank 2017. This ranks passports of the world by their total visa-free score. Singapore is closely followed by Germany, Sweden and South Korea who are tied at number three, followed by eight other countries holding the number four spot jointly. The Indian passport appears at number 75 with a visa-free score of 51, ranking even lower than African countries like Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. Some of the countries with a lower ranking than India are Egypt, Bhutan Cambodia, Jordon and our neighbours Sri Lanka and Nepal. The last on the list is Afghanistan with a score of 22 preceded by Iraq and Pakistan with a joint visa-free score of 26.

Ethiopian Immigration and Nationality Affairs Main Department in collaboration with Ethiopian Airlines Group launched e-visa services for African and international participants of Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions (MICE) held in Ethiopia. MICE travellers to Ethiopia will now be able to issue their visas online, book, pay and check-in their flight with Ethiopian Airlines online. Tewolde Gebre Mariam, Group CEO, Ethiopian Airlines, remarked, “With the immense potential for conference tourism, Ethiopia has still a lot to do to tap into the sector. The launching of an e-visa service for MICE is an impetus for the exponential demand of Ethiopia’s conference tourism, saving time and cost besides inducing a modern online visa application process. Gebreyohannes Teklu, Director, Main Department for Immigration & Nationality Affairs, said, “The introduction of e-visa for MICE will provide travellers with a fast and convenient way to apply for a visa and initiate their travel to Ethiopia while ensuring absolute security of sensitive information.”