The Embassy of India in Bern quietly updated its website on 11 March to re-issue a ‘NOTICE’ reminding travellers that all visa, passport, Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) and emergency-document services have been outsourced to VFS Global since 1 July 2025. Applicants continue to send paper forms and fee payments to the mission, creating reconciliation headaches and processing delays. Under the clarified rules, all fees—including the CHF 18 per-service VFS charge—must be paid only to VFS Global’s Bern Visa Application Centre at Weststrasse 2. Any payments made directly to the embassy will be refunded within three months, minus bank charges, and the application will not be processed until resubmitted via VFS. For Swiss HR teams managing Indian assignments the reminder is timely. Peak application season for summer project work begins in April, and failure to follow the correct channel can set projects back weeks. Companies should update internal mobility portals and pre-trip checklists to reference the new payment instructions and the dedicated VFS email (info.inch@vfshelpline.com). Applicants may still mail documents, but only to VFS. Anything received at the embassy will be returned unprocessed, potentially jeopardising tight mobilisation deadlines. The embassy also points users to India’s Bureau of Immigration website for the latest health-entry formalities. VFS says average processing time for standard tourist and business visas in Switzerland is currently four working days, but warns this may stretch to seven days in late May when student-visa demand spikes.
