From Wednesday, 22 July, all Indian passport, visa and attestation services in the United Arab Emirates will be processed by Al Hind Tours & Travels through 16 newly established Indian Consular Application Centres (ICACs) across the country. The late-evening announcement on 21 July follows India’s Supreme Court decision to let stand a Delhi High Court order cancelling the Ministry of External Affairs’ previous outsourcing tender, but allowing an interim arrangement to avoid service gaps. Al Hind replaces BLS International (passports/visas) and SGIVS Global Services (attestations), whose contracts expired on 30 June. Applicants must now book appointments via the new Consular Seva in UAE portal; prior bookings with the former providers have been migrated, but officials advise applicants to reconfirm slot timings. For the UAE’s estimated 3.5 million Indian residents—and for employers processing thousands of employment-visa attestations each month—the handover ends weeks of uncertainty that saw document backlogs swell. Al Hind says all 16 ICACs are fully staffed, with extended hours during the initial transition. Mobility practitioners should update internal checklists: new service fees apply, form templates have changed and biometric capture will be centralised at designated ICACs. Companies are urged to brief employees on the shift to avoid missed appointments that could delay residence-visa stamping. Legal experts note that the Supreme Court’s stance effectively forces India’s MEA to retender long-term contracts within a month, meaning another provider change is possible later this year. HR teams should therefore monitor developments and keep buffer time in deployment schedules.
Source: Gulf News
