The new High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom, Vikram Doraiswami, said that the Indian Embassy is planning to open two new visa application centers by the end of this month, one in Glasgow and another in Central London, as reported by the Indian Embassy.
Earlier this month, Doraiswami, a senior official in the High Commission of India, was shown in a video posted on the High Commission of India’s Twitter account. In the video, he discussed the steps the high commission is taking to improve visa services for British tourists.
After recognizing British travelers’ difficulties in obtaining visa appointments, the High Commissioner promised to increase the number of appointments that could be booked using the online system shortly.
“Team @HCI_London recognizes the challenges and is committed to improving our delivery of visa services. Here’s a message by High Commissioner @VDoraiswami on what’s being done in this regard.”
Team @HCI_London recognizes the challenges and is committed to improving our delivery of visa services. Here’s a message by High Commissioner @VDoraiswami on what’s being done in this regard. @MEAIndia @IndianDiplomacy @CPVIndia @sujitjoyghosh pic.twitter.com/x0zXLF7bKD
— India in the UK (@HCI_London) October 12, 2022
Increasing the capacity of the existing visa application centers
The High Commissioner also discussed that the current visa application centers could be expanded to accept and process visa applications on Saturdays and in the late afternoons of weekdays so that visa applications could be processed more quickly.
To accomplish this, the current capacity of 20,000 visa applications per month will be increased to 40,000 visa applications per month by taking these steps.
As well as that, he promised that several measures would be taken to prevent the use of online appointment bookings for fraudulent purposes, which has become a trend lately.
As part of the agreement with the service provider, the High Commissioner promised to take additional steps to make the application process more straightforward for visitors from the United Kingdom in concert with the service provider.
In-Person Visa Application Submission
The first thing to keep in mind is that recently, India has changed the visa rules for UK nationals. They must now apply for a visa at the UK visa centers in person to apply for a tourist visa.
As a result of the decision, thousands of British tourists have been forced to postpone their vacations due to the lack of visa appointments before their flights leave.
The majority of British tourists to India paid visa brokers up until now.
Resumption of the e-Tourist Visa for UK Nationals requested by the IATO
The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) recently requested that e-tourist visas be restored for the UK and Canada.
A letter from the association has been sent to Prime Minister Modi to ask for his help in restoring e-Tourist visas for the United Kingdom, Canada, and other key source markets. These countries send the vast majority of outbound tourists to India.
As a result of an order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the government has reinstated the e-Tourist Visa facility for 156 countries from March 2022 onwards.
While the UK, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman were not included in the March order, she added that they had been informed of the “security reasons” for this during meetings with officials of MHA and MEA over the past year.
Read Also:
- UPI Payments will simplify payments for Indian tourists in Europe
- Himachal Pradesh experiences a tourist rush due to early snowfall
- Mahakal Lok Corridor inauguration: Here are some 8 unknown facts
- The Full Moon Tourism campaign is set to launch in Rajasthan
- Qatar issues travel advisory for Indian visitors before the 2022 FIFA World Cup
- Independent Travel vs Guided Tours – Which is better?
- IATO Request to Restore e-Tourist Visa for Canada and UK Nationals
- Covid Update: More than 118 countries now allow unvaccinated travelers
