Category Archives: Visa

Shikhar Aggarwal, Joint Managing Director, BLS, said, “A PAN Card is not a mandatory requirement for a Schengen Visa. However, voluntarily submitting your PAN Card or additional financial credentials can enhance the overall strength of your visa application and provide further assurance of your financial stability to the authorities.”

VFS Global, which has been a trusted partner for the UK Government since 2003, has won the global contract for overseas UK visa and Citizenship services. This award is the latest in a long line of wins for the world’s leading visa, passport and citizen services provider. During 2024, VFS Global will deploy 240 Visa and Citizenship Application Service (VCAS) Centres for the UK in 142 countries across Africa & Middle East, Americas, Australasia & Europe, China & Taiwan, and Asia & Asia Pacific regions. These centres will accept all categories of visa applications as well as UK passport applications in some locations. Combined, these new centres are estimated to process 3.8 million applicants every year. Beyond the scale of the deployment, VFS Global will invest to improve the customer journey and increase accessibility – including through new customer websites, and through updated in-person experiences. And VFS Global will deploy its latest technologies to maintain robust identity checks and ensure the integrity of the visa and passport application process. The new contract is expected to deliver savings to the UK Government. Zubin Karkaria, Founder and CEO, VFS Global, said, “We are delighted to win this contract and expand our partnership with the Home Office to become their service provider for all UK visa customers overseas. We are excited to begin operations in new locations, and to take the next step towards providing customers with a seamless, simple and secure visa and passport application experience. This win is a testament to our dedicated efforts to provide all our client governments with best-in-class services.”

Destinations looking to harness the full potential of the growing Indian market could consider tailoring their value propositions in alignment with one or more of the 5 key points that influence where travellers choose to go, as per the latest McKinsey report on India market. They must determine factors such as the attractiveness of the destination, visas, connectivity, affordability, and the overall travel experience.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, says that the country will scrap entry visa requirements for citizens of India and China visiting the nation beginning from 1 December 2023 for up to 30 days. This decision comes with a view to boost the tourism and local economy.

India has resumed e-visa services for tourists of Canadian nationals after a pause of almost two months. The resumption of services for all categories of visas comes hours ahead of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s participation in the virtual G20 Leaders’ Summit. Earlier in September, the Indian Mission in Canada suspended visa services for Canadian nationals until further notice, citing operational reasons.

Sharing his views on the resumption of e-tourist visa for Canadian nationals, Rajiv Mehra, President of IATO, says, “We are happy and pleased with this development as opening of visas for Canada which is one of the largest source market for India, will be a big booster shot for our inbound tourism. Hopefully, the tourist flow from Canada will begin by January. Also, we will urge the government to allow e-visa for Chinese visitors. While other visas are open for the Chinese travellers, the absence of e-visa is still an impediment for them. Hopefully, the government will consider this as well.”

VFS Global, the world’s largest outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions appointed Jose Manuel Aisa Mancho as its Chief Financial Officer effective 01 November 2023. He reports to Zubin Karkaria, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, and is based in Dubai, the organisation’s global headquarters. Jose joins VFS Global from Cellnex Telecom. He has over two decades of experience across the suite of finance sub-functions, including mergers & acquisitions, financial planning, investor relations, management control, treasury, and tax. He has previously worked in organisations that include Abertis Infrastructures, CriteriaCaixa and Cellnex. He was also a Non-Executive Officer in infrastructure companies such as Hispasat, Sanef or TBI Limited. Jose will be responsible for the overall Finance function at VFS Global, and will also be responsible for Legal, Data Privacy and Corporate Risk functions. Jose will leverage his rich experience in strengthening VFS Global’s finance function and developing strategies to support further growth and development of the company. As a member of the company’s Executive Board, he will also play a pivotal role in the overall strategic decision-making at VFS Global.

BLS International Services, a trusted global tech-enabled services partner for governments and citizens, announced its unaudited consolidated financial results for the quarter and six-month period ended September 30, 2023. Amongst several others, the company processes visa applications for Spain, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Thailand, Hungary, Morocco, India, Vietnam, Malaysia and Slovakia. Shikhar Aggarwal, Joint Managing Director, BLS International Services, said, “We have continued our growth momentum into the second quarter of this fiscal. The Company’s performance has been in line with the expectations. Despite revenue growth of 14.3% year-on-year in the quarter, our EBITDA and PAT witnessed robust growth of 52.7% and 60.8% year-on-year, respectively. Favourable business mix resulted in the expansion of EBITDA margins, which sustained above the 20% mark this quarter. As key markets are opening up, we expect an increase in the number of visa applications. During the quarter, we signed up with the Government of Slovakia to offer outsourced visa services. Slovakia is becoming a hot spot for tourists, and we expect good volumes from the region. In addition, we rolled out Visa outsourcing centers for Hungary and Italy in various countries. On the Digital Services front, we tied up with Kotak Mahindra Bank to offer banking correspondence services, in line with our strategy to grow this line of business. Overall, we aim to continue focusing on spreading our reach far and wide with prudent emphasis on organic as well as inorganic growth while striving to maintain our internal rate of return threshold”. The company continues to witness strong operating results. For the quarter ended September 30, 2023, company’s consolidated revenue rose 14.3% YoY to Rs. 407.7 Cr, while operating EBITDA witnessed a growth of 52.7% to …

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has approved a unified tourist visa, much like the Schegen Zone, that will allow visitors to travel freely between all 6 GCC countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE. This is expected to be rolled out in 2024 – 2025. Specific regulations and legislation are to be prepared, with a projected implementation between 2024 and 2025, depending on the readiness of each GCC country’s internal systems. This initiative is an integral part of the GCC 2030 tourism strategy.  

The Sri Lankan Cabinet has approved a proposal to grant free visas to travellers from seven countries – India, China, Russia, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan and Indonesia – with immediate effect as part of a pilot project till 31 March. Tourists from these countries are now entitled to free visa.