Category Archives: Visa

Indian government will be opting for reciprocal treatment to foreigners applying for visa, depending on their country’s visa policy for Indian tourists, reports an official of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). In a bid to iron out the issues arising due to the travel policies currently, MHA held a meeting under the Union Home Secretary, where it was decided that reciprocal treatment will be adopted for tourists visiting India. He added, “Many countries have opened for tourists from foreign countries but have posed several restrictions for Indian travellers. The issues have been raised with the diplomats of concerned countries to get issues resolved.”

UK has given a nod for Covishield being accepted as approved vaccine for inbound travellers to the country. Under a new set of guidelines, UK Govt has accepted a full course of the Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna or Janssen vaccines from a relevant public health body in some countries. “Formulations of the 4 listed vaccines, such as AstraZeneca Covishield, AstraZeneca Vaxzevria and Moderna Takeda, qualify as approved vaccines,” it said. The guideline says, “From 4am Monday 4 October, you will qualify as fully vaccinated if you are vaccinated either under an approved vaccination programme in the UK, Europe, USA or UK vaccine programme overseas or with a full course of the Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna or Janssen vaccines from a relevant public health body in Australia, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bahrain, Brunei, Canada, Dominica, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, New Zealand, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan or the United Arab Emirates (UAE). You must have had a complete course of an approved vaccine at least 14 days before you arrive in England.”

In a reciprocal reaction, the Indian government has withdrawn the e-visa facility for the citizens of Canada and the United Kingdom. According to a senior Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) official, post-Covid, UK and Canada have posed a lot of restrictions over the entry of Indian nationals in their country and many times, travellers have to face inconvenience despite several requests were made to the concerned embassies to take up and matter and resolve it. “The e-visa facility to UK and Canada citizens have been withdrawn from the first week of August this year. Now, they have to apply for a regular sticker visa at the Indian embassy. Tourist visa is already suspended and people visiting India under other categories of visa now have to apply for regular sticker visas,” said the official. Earlier, the e-visa facility was denied to Chinese nationals following the Galwan Valley incident in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed in violent clashes with China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) personnel in June last year.

The resumption of short-stay entry visa processing for Ireland has been announced and has come into effect from 13 September, 2021. Indians fully vaccinated with COVISHIELD can now apply for short-stay entry visas to Ireland. There are no quarantine requirements for fully-vaccinated Indians with COVISHIELD or recently recovered travellers to Ireland. Travellers must fill out a Passenger Locator Form before departure.

Foreign-bound travellers from India that opted for Visa At Your Doorstep (VAYD) services grew by more than six times between January and July this year, revealed a data analysis by VFS Global. “Touchless travel with an enhanced focus on safety and well-being are key to customers today. The uptick in VAYD services is another great indication of changing customer preferences. With the digital consumer experience evolving rapidly, we foresee a higher demand for such premium services that enable our customers to prioritise safe travel,” said Vinay Malhotra, Regional Group COO – South Asia, Middle East & North Africa and Americas, VFS Global.

With borders slowly reopening for Indians, student visa applications for various countries are at a record high. With this higher demand for visa application appointments, VFS Global has continually faced the issue of scammers posing as employees or associates of the organisation and embezzling customers. Misusing VFS Global’s trusted name in the visa space, such scammers lure aspirants with the false promise of overseas settlement. An all-too-frequent modus operandi involves a scammer using new software and other technology to clone VFS Global’s web page and mask their phone numbers, so it appears that the call has indeed come from an official VFS Global line. The victim is then asked to verify the number on the official website, leading him/her to further believe the caller. “We understand anxieties engulfing students and parents with the reopening of international borders. With high demand for student visas, it is also important for our customers to be wary of miscreants looking to take advantage of this peak demand period. VFS Global urges prospective students to beware of such malpractices. VFS Global is taking all necessary and proactive measures to accommodate students visas as per directives from the respective Embassy or Consulate,” said Pranav Sinha, Head – South Asia, VFS Global. Touts could also reach out to customers via chat apps, offering simple assistance such as booking an appointment slot to apply for a visa at a VFS Global centre at an additional fee. VFS Global does not charge customers for appointments to submit applications. All appointments are available online on a first-come-first-served basis completely free of cost. No VFS Global employee or third party can assure an appointment based on payment. With the increasing number …

VFS Global has informed that it has started accepting applications for The Netherlands Visa for select visa categories in India with safety measures in place. At present, visa applications are only accepted in cities such as New Delhi, Mumbai Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Hyderabad. For more details on visa categories, operational days and safety norms, visit, www.visa.vfsglobal.com/ind/en/nld

VFS in India has started accepting visa applications for Croatia for categories including tourist, student, work permit and immediate family member. Applicants should have Negetive RT-PCR test report not older than 48 hours at the movement of entry in Croatia and they should be in self-isolation for 14 days. The cost of RT-PCR test should be brone by the travellers.

Members at a recent educational seminar conducted by Indiatourism Mumbai that was attended by more than 50 participants, requested to re-open e-visas for foreign tourists. NS Rathor, Chairman (Western Region), IATO, says, “Since international travellers start planning six months in advance, this would be the tight time to open up e-visas which would allow them to plan for the upcoming tourist season. It is important that our next steps are planned so that inbound tourism can open up smoothly and safely.”

The General Authority of Civil Aviation, UAE has suspended all inbound passenger movement to the UAE from India until July 6, 2021. This excludes UAE nationals. Passengers are advised to reschedule their tickets for travel at a future date. Dubai’s Emirates had earlier said that passenger flights from India would remain suspended at least until June 30. The suspension of incoming passenger traffic from India to the UAE began on April 24. It was extended on May 4 by the UAE’s National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority (NCEMA) in light of a deadly second wave of Covid-19 currently affecting India.