Visa Facilitation Service Says, Waiting Time for Indian Visas Eased Considerably To Facilitate Travel During Christmas – OKEEDA

London, Dec 21: The put up-pandemic journey demand spike leading to lengthy delays for travellers in search of Indian visas has significantly eased in time for the busy Christmas journey interval, visa facilitation service VFS International mentioned right here this week.

The restoration of the digital visa (e-visa) facility for UK travellers earlier this month is predicted to additional ease the strain, which has been lowered by as a lot as 80 per cent for the reason that peak of the huge visa rush a couple of months in the past. Coronavirus Pandemic: New Omicron Subvariants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 Account for Practically 70% New COVID-19 Instances in US.

The opening up of latest visa utility centres (VACs), additional visa appointment slots and the launch of a bespoke Visa At Your Doorstep (VAYD) facility have been described as delivering outcomes.

“Just in time for the festive season, it feels great to be able to report that travel to India from the UK is facing no add-on visa pressures,” mentioned Yummi Talwar, COO – Europe & Commonwealth of Unbiased States (CIS) for VFS International.

“The resumption of the e-visa facility this month will undoubtedly continue to have a positive impact. Overall, VFS is glad to be able to facilitate smooth processes at a particularly busy period for the Indian diaspora and others within the UK-India travel corridor,” she said.

The latest update comes as the British High Commissioner in New Delhi took to Twitter recently to announce that UK visit visas for Indians are now back within the turnaround time of 15 working days. On the reverse end, travellers from the UK who had faced weeks of delay as they struggled with Indian visa appointments have also been assured of a streamlined process.

The Indian High Commissioner to the UK, Vikram Doraiswami, took to social media to promise a doubling of visa capacity from 20,000 to 40,000 a month within days of taking charge in September. “The e-visa system is now live and will enable friends from the UK to travel far more easily to India,” he mentioned lately, including that travellers also can use their legitimate e-visas from earlier than the UK’s removing from the record of e-visa eligible nations over the pandemic interval.

VFS International, the outsourcing and expertise companies supplier for governments and diplomatic missions, coped with an enormous rush of round 200 visa candidates a day at its model-new VAC at Marylebone in central London when it opened final month. That rush is now mentioned to be settling all the way down to round 50-a-day in December, statistically the most well-liked month for journey from the UK to India given the Christmas and new yr vacation interval at faculties. Christmas 2022 Travel Designations: From the Vatican to Bondi Seashore in Australia, Test Out These Locations in Completely different Elements of the World for Spending the Vacation Season.

“Over the last few months, we have expanded our services, including opening a new Indian VAC in central London (Marylebone), which is dedicated to only providing visa services,” mentioned Talwar. “Bespoke services like Visa At Your Doorstep were introduced across the UK to cater to the demand and customer convenience. All these measures have doubled our operational capacity at VFS Global, and resulted in reduced appointment waiting times for those visiting India,” she added.

The brand new centre is the third India visa centre in London, with VFS International working a community of Indian VACs throughout the UK in cities reminiscent of Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leicester, and Manchester.

The comparatively new Visa At Your Doorstep facility for Indian visas has additionally proved fairly widespread with corporations and households who discover it simpler than travelling to a visa centre.