As part of its expansion of visa services network for the Government of India’s Ministry of External Affairs worldwide, VFS Global will manage India visa processing services in Spain. VFS Global has been serving the Government of India since 2007, and manages visa processing for the client government in a total of 12 countries worldwide.
The Embassy of India in Spain and VFS Global have signed a four-year contract to manage India visa processing services in Madrid, Barcelona and Las Palmas. The new centres in these cities are scheduled to open in April 2017.
VFS Global had won the contract to offer India visa processing services in Spain in July 2016. However, the launches were delayed due to a petition filed by BLS International against the Government of India in the Delhi High Court, disputing its disqualification from the Spain bid for failing to meet the minimum technical criteria required. With the Delhi High Court dismissing this petition, the centres are now set to launch as per schedule. Besides foreigners visiting India, the Indian diaspora in Spain is also expected to benefit from these centres as they will offer other consular services such as registration of births, passport renewal services, Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) services, etc.
Spain is the 12th country where VFS Global will begin visa processing operations for the Indian Ministry of External Affairs.
Presently VFS Global manages visa and/or consular services for the Government of India in 11 countries, namely Australia, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Spain is the 12th country where these services will soon commence.
