Indian Embassy In The US Starts Accepting Online Applications For Visa, Passport, OCI Services

With effect from 4 November, the Indian Embassy at Washington DC will accept online applications for visa, Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI), renunciation, passport and Global Entry Programme (GEP) services through a new service provider, VFS Global.

According to a press release on the website of VFS, a service fee of $15.90 (inclusive of all taxes) per application will be charged in addition to applicable Government of India fees for these services. Applicants have also been advised not to send any applications by post to VFS before making an online application, the release further said.

"It may also be noted that due to the ongoing COVID pandemic, there will be no walk-in service at VFS Global until further notice. All applications shall only be dealt with by post," it added.

The Indian Embassy in the US had announced on 10 October that the service centre Cox and Kings Global Services (CKGS), which provided outsourcing services for Visa, OCI, Renunciation, Passport and GEP would be shutting down its operations on 14 October.

It also said that it would provide direct limited services only in case of emergencies, following the shutdown of CKGS.