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Indian passport and visa service centres open in Abu Dhabi, Dubai

ABU DHABI — The Indian Embassy opened its first of the six Passport and Visa Service Centres in the country to be managed by BLS International on Muroor Road in the Capital on Tuesday.

The centre, opposite Abu Dhabi’s Main Bus Terminal, was inaugurated by Indian Ambassador M. K. Lokesh and BLS senior officials. The Indian company has been contracted to run and manage six such centres across the country to help serve the community.

“The Government of India started outsourcing visa and passport transaction services at the country’s embassies around the world about five years ago to help provide smooth and fast services to community members and those wanting to visit India,” said the ambassador.

Lokesh said a similar centre was also being inaugurated in Dubai by the Consulate-General at the same time. “In total, we will have six exclusive and dedicated centres managed by BLS in addition to eight walk-in counter centres on Indian social and cultural association premises in the UAE,” he explained.

Raminder Singh, COO of BLS, told Khaleej Times that the centre in the Capital will cater to over 150 applications at its seven counters a day. In Dubai, he said the centre will receive over 400 applications daily. He said the company is managing such centres for Indian embassies in nine countries, with the UAE having the largest number of the premises.

The first outsourcing centre was opened in the UK. The ambassador said as the need may arise, the number of the centres will be increased in the country. Earlier, the services were provided by the UAE’s Empost. The embassy cancelled the contract with Empost due to higher charges. — news@khaleejtimes.com