The Embassy of India in Abu Dhabi has named Al Hind Tours & Travels LLC as its new outsourced service provider for Indian passport, visa and other consular work across the United Arab Emirates, replacing BLS International Services and SGIVS Global from 1 July 2026. All applications lodged on or before 30 June will continue to be handled by the outgoing vendors, while fresh submissions from 1 July must be filed at Al Hind-run centres that will be announced shortly. The change follows a competitive tender launched earlier this year as the embassy sought a single provider able to widen appointment capacity, introduce end-to-end digital tracking and reduce average processing times from the current five working days to three. UAE hosts an estimated 3.5 million Indians—by far the largest expatriate community in the Gulf—whose consular needs range from passport renewals to emergency exit permits. Any processing delays ripple through the local labour market because foreign workers cannot legally change jobs, exit the country or access many public-sector services without current travel documents.
![India shifts consular outsourcing in UAE to Al Hind Tours & Travels from 1 July]()
VisaHQ, an independent visa-processing platform, can also help smooth the transition; its India-specific portal (https://www.visahq.com/india/) lets UAE residents confirm the latest requirements, assemble compliant documentation, book appointments and track applications in real time, saving both individuals and HR teams from queueing at new Al Hind centres.
For businesses, the most immediate impact will be on bulk submissions for work-permit endorsements and ‘mission visas’ issued to Indian technicians on short-term assignments at UAE project sites. Companies that already have contractual arrangements with BLS or SGIVS will need to sign new service-level agreements with Al Hind and migrate their application data by the end-June cut-off to avoid rejection. The embassy has urged Indian nationals and employers to use only official websites and verified social-media handles for updates, warning against third-party agents promising walk-in appointments or “express files,” which have been linked to several fraud cases in Dubai and Sharjah this year. Al Hind says it will introduce a mobile-app-based queuing system, integrate biometric capture with India’s Passport Seva database and pilot an Arabic–Hindi customer-support line. Analysts note that the deal cements the travel agency’s evolution into a full-service visa-process outsourcer—a trend also seen globally as governments reduce in-house staffing. For Indian authorities, outsourcing offers scalability without large capital expenditure, but it also raises oversight questions: in 2025 BLS was fined ₹11 crore after an audit revealed data-security lapses in Kuwait. Indian travellers in the UAE should plan for a brief transition dip in appointment availability during the first week of July. Business travellers are advised to check whether their host companies can use electronic visa-on-arrival facilities or hold a secondary passport to mitigate any unforeseen delays.
VisaHQ, an independent visa-processing platform, can also help smooth the transition; its India-specific portal (https://www.visahq.com/india/) lets UAE residents confirm the latest requirements, assemble compliant documentation, book appointments and track applications in real time, saving both individuals and HR teams from queueing at new Al Hind centres.
For businesses, the most immediate impact will be on bulk submissions for work-permit endorsements and ‘mission visas’ issued to Indian technicians on short-term assignments at UAE project sites. Companies that already have contractual arrangements with BLS or SGIVS will need to sign new service-level agreements with Al Hind and migrate their application data by the end-June cut-off to avoid rejection. The embassy has urged Indian nationals and employers to use only official websites and verified social-media handles for updates, warning against third-party agents promising walk-in appointments or “express files,” which have been linked to several fraud cases in Dubai and Sharjah this year. Al Hind says it will introduce a mobile-app-based queuing system, integrate biometric capture with India’s Passport Seva database and pilot an Arabic–Hindi customer-support line. Analysts note that the deal cements the travel agency’s evolution into a full-service visa-process outsourcer—a trend also seen globally as governments reduce in-house staffing. For Indian authorities, outsourcing offers scalability without large capital expenditure, but it also raises oversight questions: in 2025 BLS was fined ₹11 crore after an audit revealed data-security lapses in Kuwait. Indian travellers in the UAE should plan for a brief transition dip in appointment availability during the first week of July. Business travellers are advised to check whether their host companies can use electronic visa-on-arrival facilities or hold a secondary passport to mitigate any unforeseen delays.
