By IANS,
London : The Indian high commission in London and consulates general in Birmingham and Edinburgh – that often see snaking queues of visa seekers – are to start outsourcing visa-related work in order to cope with a spurt in the number of Britons visiting India, the high commission said Wednesday.
The phased introduction begins May 29, when two Indian Visa Application Centres (IVACs) will begin working in London. In the second phase, beginning a week later, an IVAC will become operational in Birmingham. The third phase sees one more IVAC in London and another one in Edinburgh.
“Since 2002, there has been a rapid expansion in the number of British nationals going to India for tourism, business, etc. In fact, the number of visas issued has almost doubled during this period,” the high commission said.
“This has been a reflection of the growing Indo-British ties in all spheres of life. This has also been facilitated by the spurt in the number of airline flights between India and the UK,” the high commission statement added.
All the visa-related work will be handled by VF Services (UK) Limited, a firm that handles visa applications for 21 countries, from its London offices at Wilton Road and Goswell Road.
The high commission said the new procedure for submitting visa applications will be put up on a dedicated VF Services website, https://in.vfsglobal.co.uk, which is to become operational shortly.