In a move that could ease months of backlogs for the UAE’s 3.5-million-strong Indian community, India’s Supreme Court on July 20, 2026 cleared the way for the Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Consulate in Dubai to re-engage external service-provider Alhind Tours & Travels on a temporary basis. The court modified an earlier Delhi High Court ruling that had cancelled the outsourcing tender and ordered a rapid re-tender. Until now, the missions had been forced to process passports, Overseas Citizen of India cards, attestations and limited visa services in-house, operating an appointment-only system that was handling barely 2,000 applications a day—far short of pre-disruption volumes. Alhind has built 16 Consular, Passport & Visa (CPV) application centres across all seven emirates and says it can ramp up to 15,000 files daily within 72 hours of activation, cutting average passport-renewal waiting times from six weeks to under seven days. For businesses, the ruling removes a growing compliance headache. Delayed passport renewals were spilling over into late Emirates-ID issuances, blocked labour-card renewals and, in some cases, fines for employees whose documents expired while they waited. HR teams can now accelerate renewals ahead of the September peak hiring season, while global mobility managers gain an outsourced “single window” for bulk submissions—crucial for project mobilisations in energy, construction and hospitality. Legally, the judgment signals that Indian courts will balance tender-process integrity with the practical need to maintain essential consular services for its 34-million-strong diaspora. The Supreme Court stressed that the interim arrangement creates no “special equities” for Alhind, meaning the new tender must still proceed—but without paralysing service delivery in the meantime. Practically, Indian residents in the UAE should monitor embassy announcements for the go-live date of Alhind centres, ensure they book slots only through the official portal, and budget for revised service fees (expected to remain at the earlier AED 32 service charge plus applicable government fees). Businesses with large Indian workforces should brief assignees to keep a minimum six-month passport validity buffer to avoid visa-status risks.
Source: Khaleej Times
