NEW DELH/NEW YORK (TIP): VFS Global on Thursday, Oct 22 said it has been appointed as the exclusive service provider for visa, OCI (overseas citizens of India), passport, renunciation of Indian citizenship, and Global Entry Programme (GEP) verification services for the government of India in the United States.

From next month, the Indian diaspora and other applicants across the US can apply for these services at any one of VFS Global’s India Centers, it said, adding “due to COVID-19 restrictions, India visa services remain suspended. The re-start date will be announced according to directives of the Embassy of India in USA .”

India consular application centers will be located in six cities: Washington DC, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta and Houston. At these centers, VFS Global said, it will provide for Indian or US citizens, and for third-country nationals, from November 2020 services like: OCI application, passport application, renunciation of Indian citizenship and GEP verification services. The US has over 40 lakh-strong Indian diaspora. “The US is the 12th country in which VFS Global will provide passport, visa and consular services for the Indian ministry of external affairs. At present, VFS Global manages 44 passport and visa application centers for the government of India in 11 countries: Australia, Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand and UK,” VFS said in a statement. VFS Global regional group COO (South Asia, Middle East and North Africa and Americas) Vinay Malhotra said that “as a company that has its origins in Mumbai, India – where the first VFS Global application center was set up close to two decades ago – it is a matter of immense pride for us to be given the opportunity to serve our customers right across the US.” VFS Global is the world’s largest outsourcing and technology services provider for governments and diplomatic missions worldwide. It has 3,430 application centers in 144 countries across five continents and partners 64 client governments.

(Based on a press release)