Immigration Alert - Indian Visa services are temporarily suspended in Canada

Background:

Recently, The Government of India has temporarily suspended visa services in Canada with effect from 21 September 2023 due to the operational difficulties in processing visa applications.  

Change/Development:

Visa Services Suspended: The Indian Government has implemented a temporary suspension of the acceptance, processing, and issuance of Indian visas, through its consular posts in Canada. BLS International, the agency appointed by the Indian Government to handle the initial visa application scrutiny in Canada, attributes this suspension to "operational reasons."1 Few important things to know about this temporary suspension:

  1. This suspension applies indefinitely to all nationalities applying for any category of Indian visa in Canada.
  2. The spokesperson of India's Ministry of External Affairs clarified in a press conference that this suspension also extends to Canadian citizens seeking Indian visas from any other country.
  3. The suspension includes the E-visa category.
  4. Canadian citizens and foreign nationals from Canada who already possess a valid Indian visa can travel to India without disruption.
  5. Holders of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card is also allowed to travel to India.
BDO in India Comment:

It's vital to understand that the suspension of visa services is a temporary measure but the timeline for lifting the suspension remains uncertain. While India has implemented this temporary visa suspension, Canadian entry requirements for Indian citizens remain unaffected.

BDO in India will continue monitoring these developments and provide updates as they occur.

 

1 The Indian government has not released a published notification of this change – instead, the information has been made available solely on the visa outsourcing centre’s website https://www.blsindia-canada.com/