For your information
1 With effect from May 29, 2008, collection of visa applications and their delivery has been outsourced to VF Services UK Ltd. (http://in.vfsglobal.co.uk) in a phased manner as per details below:-
(i) From May 29, 2008 onwards High Commission of India, London will accept visa applications only through VF Service UK Ltd. Only exception will be for diplomatic/official/UN passports;
(ii) For this purpose, VF Service UK Ltd. has opened two India Visa Application Centres (IVACs) whose addresses are as follows:-
(1) 60-62 Wilton Road, Victoria, London SW1V 1DE; and
(2) 142-148 Goswell Road, London EC1V 1DE.
(iii) Visa applications can be submitted to India Visa Appliction Centres, VF Services (UK) Ltd. in the following manner:-
(a) On-line applications (passports/documents can be sent later by post or submitted in person by taking on-line appointments;
(b) Postal applications, other than those falling under the jurisdiction of Consulates General of India, Birmingham and Edinburgh, may be addressed to India Visa Application Centre, VF Services (UK) Ltd., 142-148 Goswell Road, London EC1V 7DU); [For jurisdiction list, please see http://in.vfsglobal.co.uk]
(c) Walk-in applicants (may like to take prior on-line appointments) at any of the two centres mentioned above;
(d) Through Travel Agents.
(iv) A third IVAC will be opened in London at a location and from a date that will be intimated shortly.
2 Â Â Â Birmingham
The India Visa Application Centre (IVAC) at Birmingham has become operational with effect from June 6, 2008. All visa applications under the jurisdiction of Consulate General of India Birmingham will be accepted through VF Services (UK) Ltd. The location of IVAC at Birmingham is :
India Visa Application Centre
VF Services (UK) Ltd.
No.20-21 Pemberton Street,
Jewellery Quarter, Hockley
Birmingham B18 6NY
For details on visa applications, jurisdiction etc. please visit
Edinburgh
The India Visa Application Centre at Edinburgh will become operational at a later date (tentatively end-June 2008). The Consulate General of India at Edinburgh will continue to accept visa applications, including postal applications, falling under their jurisdiction till India Visa Application Centre become operational there. The location of IVAC at Edinburgh will be :-
India Visa Application Centre
VF Services (UK) Ltd.
66 Hannover Buildings, Rose Street
Edinburgh EH2 2NN.
3 The Diplomatic/Official/UN passport holders may submit their applications for visas to the High Commission of India, London and its Consulates General in Birmingham and Edinburgh directly.
4 The VF Services (UK) Ltd. has been authorised to charge a service fee of GB Pounds 06.90 plus prevailing VAT charges @17.5% per application over and above the normal visa fee of the High Commission. Postal/Bank/agency charges, wherever applicable, will be additional, to be borne by the applicant.
5 Applicants should make travel arrangements only after obtaining appropriate visa. The processing time for visas in normal cases will be 2- 3 working days and in some cases it may take longer ( for details refer ‘processing time’ for visas on web-site http://in.vfsglobal.co.uk ).
6 Link to India Visa Application Centres, VF Services (UK) Ltd. – http://in.vfsglobal.co.uk
IVR No. 09068 44 45 44 (premium number) *
* calls charged at 60p per minute at all times
41 Comments
babak · September 12, 2008 at 11:48 am
This company now charges 95p per minute to put you through to a call centre in India which can’t answer your questions. They say that someone will contact you in 48 hours (working hours!).
How can this be legal?
Heena Modi · September 18, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Babak this doesn’t sound good at all. Perhaps it’s worth sending a similar message to your local MP and see if they can help?
http://www.writetothem.com/
Please let me know how you get on if you email them.
Heena 🙂
malik · November 2, 2008 at 8:50 pm
it seems each and every year system for visa;s get more and more ludicrous the birmingham plac is a hovel located in a diamond market lol hahaha now the agents will make even more money and dish out unbearable aunguish and heartache
Heena Modi · November 7, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Yeah it’s a shame that it’s harder now. You can’t get them on the spot or wait. You HAVE to return after 2 days or so. So much time is needed to sort it out. 🙁
I guess it can last a long time if you want it to so one may not have to go through it all again quickly 🙂
Chandra Roy · October 4, 2009 at 10:20 pm
I need to go to Calcutta for a few days. The thought of having to go through this nightmare process frightens me. This premium rate of .95p per minute is an utter extortion. It sounds like as if one is in an adult chat room!
Your Excellancy Mr High Commissioner, did you know that this agency would charge caller at an premium rate of £.95 a minute when you awarded them the contract? Or did you not care. You should do something about this. You have given them the licence to rip off people.
Yours Sincerely
Chandra Roy
Heena Modi · October 11, 2009 at 12:53 am
Dear Chandra
If you wish to send your comments to the High Commissioner please visit
Thanks
Heena 🙂
shirley hicks · October 12, 2009 at 8:07 pm
please can you let me have the address for my visa application and documents for India have to be addressed
I am worried I may send them to the wrong address
Thank you
Shirley Hicks
Heena Modi · October 15, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Dear Shirley
I don’t have any info on personal applications.
The purpose of my post was to share info about changes in how visa applications are handled.
Good luck 🙂
Heena
Shirley · October 23, 2009 at 1:15 am
Dear Heena
Thank you so much for your email .. my friends and I have now sent off our applications for visa’s and hope full they our passports are returned safely .. I have spoken to many people who have visited India or are going for the first time like me and we just don’t understand why this process should be so difficult .. why like other countries can’t you pay for your visa at the airport ..
I am looking forward to my visit and I am sure it will be worth the hassle re the visa ..
Yours sincerely
Shirley
Heena Modi · October 23, 2009 at 1:17 am
No probs at all
Fingers crossed re the passports being returned safely 🙂 Has the strike with Royal Mail affected them at all?
It’s an interesting question you’ve raised. No idea why you can’t get the Visa at the airport.
I’ll try and find out! 🙂
Heena
Shirley · October 31, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Dear Heena
Our applications were returned not processed due to the post master making the postal orders out to The High Commission when I told him it should be VF Services so we have had to return all documents again to VF Services with new postal orders but costs were down to the post office where we bought them and he didn’t hesitate to amend the error he made .. thankfully ..
The postal strike is still on but I am not sure if this affected our applications ..
Yours sincerely
Shirley Hicks
Heena Modi · October 31, 2009 at 4:38 pm
What a faff!
Keep me posted hun 🙂
Ali · November 12, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Hi,
Someone please help. I applied for a tourist indian visa on the 20th October 2009, 18 WORKING days have lapsed and I have still NOT recived my passport. I am sure their must be secruity checks happening because my mother holds a pakistani passport and my dad a Belgian passport, I hold a belgian passport too. I am traveling next week to india, everything is booked… What can I do, who can I contact, the visa application centre advise that they have no news, they have to wait for the high commission of india to contact them… I am deperate, can you help, anyone????
Ali
Heena Modi · November 13, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Ali
I am so sorry
I have merely put information on my site
I don’t know anything else as I don’t work for them of know anyone who does
I can only suggest that you keep calling them
Sorry & good luck 🙂
Shirley · November 19, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Ali
My passport inc visa came back within six days so I don’t know what has
happened to yours .. did you apply to VF Services (UK) Ltd
Shirley
M.Kumar · January 7, 2010 at 10:59 am
how can we find that visa has came or not
Heena Modi · January 7, 2010 at 9:45 pm
So sorry I have no idea
Who did you use?
Where are you based?
I ask because I know people have gone to Hayes to get theirs done. Others have done it via ‘agents’ who charge a fee and deal with it all
Rene · August 25, 2010 at 11:07 am
Dear Heena,
I am getting conflicting messages when I read the official website.What I want to know is :
1. Living in Manchester, where do I send my POSTAL application to? (one site says Birmingham and the other says Hayes)
2. What is the current(August 2010) Tourist Fee for 6 months max stay? And is there an admin Fee too ? cant find this all on the website.
Thanks a lot
Rene
Heena Modi · August 26, 2010 at 11:24 am
I’m so sorry I have no idea. Give them a call perhaps?
jimmy · September 8, 2010 at 9:04 pm
you can ask me any questions you have about indian visa and I might try and answer as accurately as i can.
david swan · September 23, 2010 at 12:22 pm
Hi,
Can you tell me if I can apply for a visa for India in Edinburgh. If so could you kindly advise contact details etc.
Many thanDavid
david swan · September 23, 2010 at 12:24 pm
Hi
Can I apply for a visa for India in Edinburgh?.
Many thanks.
David
Heena Modi · September 30, 2010 at 9:02 pm
So sorry David
I hope you get it sorted
However, I have no idea about where you can/can’t apply for one….
KARTAR SINGH SANDHU MBE · December 9, 2010 at 2:49 am
Do you have lndian Visa Service in the City of Leicester as my Five year Visa expires towards the end of Feb.2011 hence l want to renew it for another 5 years. Please advise me. Thanks.
Heena Modi · December 20, 2010 at 8:04 pm
Sorry
I have no idea about applications themselves
I simple wrote about the change in who manages/processes them
Sorry and good luck : )
Colin · January 16, 2011 at 8:28 pm
I am afraid the Indian Visa website is a mess. It makes reference to a check list of documents but it it is nowhere to be found on the website, and the extortionate 95p per minute eventually gave me one including just under £40 for a tourist visa, and also no explanation of why we need non-regular 2 inch x 2 inch photos. These are stated can be done at the centre. I pointed out if this was all a way of making us pay for ever, and got a laugh back.
I was also told on the hotline that I could deliver my visa application directly to the Consulate, but on rereading all the website it appears likely that I will be sent from there to the VF Services office 1 km away.
I will send an email to the consulate tomorrow (no telephone lines listed on the Indian Consulate website only email addresses) and query all this.
Heena Modi · January 18, 2011 at 8:39 pm
It’s such a shame!
I know of lots of people who have had problems with the new system/management. 🙁
Colin · January 19, 2011 at 1:43 am
Well I went and gave my visa application to them in Birmingham and I must say the serving staff were excellent.
I had forgotten to add postal code so they did their job.
Downside is it took 1.5 hours to get there + car park fees + 2 hours waiting time, whereas the process itself took about 6 minutes with 7 desks open.
Good news is there is a private delivery service where you can deliver to their local office (if they have one) and they will send it in and collect it. Each trip in and out is reportedly £7 but we will see what happens on Monday when my passport and visa is supposed to be delivered to me.
Since it cost me £10 for parking fees alone, this is worth it.
Heena Modi · January 19, 2011 at 9:59 am
Let me know how it goes Colin 🙂
Colin · January 22, 2011 at 10:04 pm
Well the application was given to them in Birmingham on Tuesday; they promised delivery for Monday by private courier, which I paid for at their desk.
The passport and visa was delivered to me on Friday morning.
Excellent service.
Now they need to get their website up to a professional level, and stop ripping people off on a poor helpline.
My email enquiry one week ago to the designated Visa person in the Indian Consulate in Birmingham is still not answered.
Who stated that India was going to threaten China on its economy??
Heena Modi · January 23, 2011 at 3:55 pm
Hmmm!
Not the best service is it?
I’ve never heard so much about the visa service, or lack of it, until it was outsourced!
R. R. · February 22, 2011 at 2:18 am
Living in N.Ireland, my only ‘practical’ alternative to secure a Tourist Visa was by the postal route to an address in Edgware, Middlesex.
Yes, there is a lot of ‘small print’ of requirements for this to be done, including a non-regular size of photos etc…..but I bit my tongue, read carefully,said ‘yes sir!’ and sent off my registered thick foolproof envelope. I am pleased to say I got my Visa and enclosures returned 7 days later….this was in October 2010.
I must confess however, that it took me a long time to access a lot of the sites, phone 2 friends who had been to India(1 year ago!) and then to put together all that I had found before I embarked on my postal route. I suppose a lot of this was because I was residing in N.Ireland ! I have to tell you there are loads of people from here who visit India.
A clearly worded, all- encompassing ‘Notice Board’ from the VF outsourcing agents on the Net would be so nice…..but I suppose I have to say ‘Dream On’.
c.s · February 24, 2011 at 9:57 pm
I sent off my passport to Hayes two weeks ago having paid the fee and including all relevant document. It still hasn’t been returned but when I checked on the website it said that it was ready for collection in Hayes. I included a special delivery stamped addressed envelope for it to be returned by post. Do I go and collect it or will it be sent back to me? Can anyone help??
Sabiha · March 8, 2012 at 3:15 pm
Hi, i am really desperate for some advice. i applied for a visa at manchester and submitted the documents. the vfs site is saying that the passport has been processed and has been passed onto the royal mail- but 3 days later and royal mail have still not recieved my passport. i dont know where it is stuck, can i pick up my processed passport from birmingham???
please can someone offer help!
Cassandrina · March 12, 2012 at 10:06 pm
Hello Sabiha,
Royal Mail is taking up to 7 days to deliver letters.
If you got it sent special delivery or any recorded method then it takes longer but should arrive. If VF Services sent it this way then they should give you a tracking number.
If they sent it normal mail then visit your local Royal Mail depot in two days time to make a complaint.
My advice to everyone in the future is to get it sent from VF services by their own custom courier service to your home, which is very good and cost me cheaper than my going to pick it up in Birmingham what with petrol, time and parking.
Best Wishes, Colin.
Sabiha · March 14, 2012 at 10:45 pm
Hi Colin, thanks for your reply.
after much stress, i managed to get through to an advisor on the vfs customer relations helpline- they did take over 25 mins to answer my call, but nevertheless the advisor was quite helpful and managed to track down the whereabout of my passport and seemed to have all the correct advice. My passport finally arrived at 8am last saturday to my delight- but i would like to advise any other people who are in a similar situation: if the vfs site states that your processes passport has been passed to the Royal mail/dx service- then this is not necessarily the case. The advisor told me that this is the date the passport is sent to the embassy, and the passport does not actually get despatched from vfs until a good 3-4 days after!
the vfs site could do with being abit more accurate to avoid these situations, but lets see if anything improves. Atleast im not having to log a formal complaint against them and i can look forward to my holiday in a weeks time! 🙂
Sabiha.
Richard Wilson · March 15, 2012 at 12:44 pm
Am just about to apply for a visa to visit India.
I must say, the comments above are daunting.
Please will the person actually responsible for issuing Indian visas reply to what is being said here ? And if the apparent mess is not quickly addressed, then surely, at the end of the day, it is up to the Indian High Commissioner himself to insist on something much better than seems to be the case now ? What a poor first impression it gives of his country, when many other countries have much more user-friendly systems that India could learn from.
RW
Heena Modi · March 16, 2012 at 1:11 pm
Thanks for all your comments.
Who is the person that is responsible for issuing Indian visas? Maybe I can email them and ask them to comment. 🙂
Colin · March 16, 2012 at 6:39 pm
I wish you luck in your quest but my thoughts are if you do find the person and speak to them they will direct you to someone else down the line. You will then find you cannot reach the original person as s/he will close this communication loophole.
Jugal Mehta · August 22, 2012 at 5:33 pm
I have been trying to get hold of a visa application form for the last two days. So far, I have down loaded three different forms. I do not know which one is correct. The entire HC web site is full of information which is difficult to understand/digest. They should have made a simple system particularly for old people like me who are not very conversant with this computer age. I am also not sure whether a hand written application form will be acceptable. Some friends say “YES” and others say “No”. They had all sorts of problems at Visa Office. One lady friend made seven visits to get a tourist visa. Then problems with the whereabouts old Indian passports. Either you produce one or pay the penalty. VF Services have premium line with 95p minute and people at the other end are unable to answer your queries satisfactorily. I have given up and decided not to go to India anymore unless someone guides me from downloading the application to receiving visa.
marion wilson · August 24, 2012 at 2:26 pm
i sent mine and my husbands passports off to middlesex ,with the forms filled in .a bankers draft .for visas for india .i sent them in the same envelope .recorded delivery there and back .this morning i only recieved mine back .with my visa on .phoned them up could offer no explanation.but to wait a couple of days to see if my husband gets hes .sa i sent them in the same envelope.i should have got them both back in the same one .someone help regards
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