Ritu Jha-
The Indian Embassy in the US has awarded a new contract to a company for its passport and visa related services in all its diplomatic missions in America.
VFS Global will be the new visa service provider in the United States announced the Indian Consulate in San Francisco, Oct. 9.
The present company Cox and Kings Global Services (CKGS) for providing outsourcing services for Visa, OCI, Renunciation, Passport and Global Entry Program (GEP) on behalf of the Consulate General of India, San Francisco will shut down its operations on Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 5 pm (PST).
Sumati S. Rao, Consul (CIC & Visa), Consulate General of India in San Francisco, told indica News, on the reason for rewarding contract to VFS Global and the termination of CKGS contract said “CKGS contract was coming to an end. There is a whole tender process. We do not pick and choose, and it’s a lengthy and transparent process.”
It is expected that VFS Global will take over operations starting November 2, and in the meantime the Consulate General of India, San Francisco will provide limited services in “emergencies only” with effect from October 19.
When indica News asked on any information on the visa fees, she said “Fee will be declared in due course.” VFS Global, the visa outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions worldwide. It has operations in 144 countries across 5 continents.
According to the Public Notice announced by the Indian San Francisco Consulate, “Overseas Citizen of India (OCI), Renunciation and Global Entry Program (GEP) services will remain suspended till the new service provider takes over.”
Applicants can only submit applications on the CKGS website before the above deadline, i.e. October 14. Applicants must ensure that their documents are shipped to CKGS with suitable pre-paid return envelopes in a manner to ensure it reaches CKGS by 5 pm (PST) on Friday, 16.
Any applications received after 5 pm on Friday, October 16, will be returned to the applicants without processing. For emergency visa applicants are requested to send an email to acovisa.cgisf@mea.gov.in requesting for an emergency visa.
For emergency services, applicants are requested to send an email to passport.sf@mea.gov.in explaining the reason. Only after approval from the Consulate, the application process must be initiated by the applicant passport
