The Indian missions in the United Arab Emirates have confirmed a sweeping shake-up of their outsourced consular network: from 1 July 2026, all Indian passport, visa, Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) and ancillary consular applications in every emirate will be processed exclusively by Al Hind Tours & Travels LLC. The change ends a decade-long split contract that saw BLS International Services and SGIVS Global handling more than 700,000 annual applications on behalf of the Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Consulate-General in Dubai. According to the official tender notice, Al Hind scored highest on price, digital capability, customer-service metrics and geographic reach, promising 16 walk-in centres spanning Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and the eastern coastal towns of Kalba and Khor Fakkan. For the UAE’s 3.5 million-strong Indian diaspora—and the employers who rely on their mobility—the transition matters. All applications lodged on or after 1 July must be routed through Al Hind’s new centres; submissions to BLS or SGIVS after 30 June will be rejected.
![Indian Embassy appoints Al Hind as sole service provider for passports, visas and OCI in the UAE from 1 July 2026]()
Meanwhile, organisations or individual travellers looking for an extra layer of digital support can turn to VisaHQ’s UAE portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-arab-emirates/) for step-by-step visa guidance, real-time application tracking and bulk-upload tools that dovetail neatly with Al Hind’s physical centres—helping cut queue time and ensuring documents meet mission-ready standards.
The missions say service fees, biometric capture and document-attestation procedures will remain unchanged during a three-month “stabilisation period”, but digital appointment slots and a revamped call centre will go live in the third week of June to smooth the switch-over. Indian companies relocating staff to the UAE, and UAE multinationals rotating personnel to India, need to update internal mobility playbooks immediately. HR teams should: (1) revise vendor master data to reflect the new payee; (2) circulate the location list so assignees visit the correct centre; (3) remind travellers that courier delivery of stamped passports will pause between 28–30 June while inventories are transferred; and (4) bookmark the missions’ verified social-media channels to avoid misinformation. Finally, the Embassy has warned of “inevitable first-week queues” and urges applicants with travel before mid-July to file well ahead of the cut-off. Corporates with bulk renewals (seafarers, oil-field rotations and cabin-crew bases) are encouraged to seek dedicated group appointments via a new B2B desk being piloted by Al Hind in Mussafah, Abu Dhabi.
Meanwhile, organisations or individual travellers looking for an extra layer of digital support can turn to VisaHQ’s UAE portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-arab-emirates/) for step-by-step visa guidance, real-time application tracking and bulk-upload tools that dovetail neatly with Al Hind’s physical centres—helping cut queue time and ensuring documents meet mission-ready standards.
The missions say service fees, biometric capture and document-attestation procedures will remain unchanged during a three-month “stabilisation period”, but digital appointment slots and a revamped call centre will go live in the third week of June to smooth the switch-over. Indian companies relocating staff to the UAE, and UAE multinationals rotating personnel to India, need to update internal mobility playbooks immediately. HR teams should: (1) revise vendor master data to reflect the new payee; (2) circulate the location list so assignees visit the correct centre; (3) remind travellers that courier delivery of stamped passports will pause between 28–30 June while inventories are transferred; and (4) bookmark the missions’ verified social-media channels to avoid misinformation. Finally, the Embassy has warned of “inevitable first-week queues” and urges applicants with travel before mid-July to file well ahead of the cut-off. Corporates with bulk renewals (seafarers, oil-field rotations and cabin-crew bases) are encouraged to seek dedicated group appointments via a new B2B desk being piloted by Al Hind in Mussafah, Abu Dhabi.
