Two more Indian visa centres on way

Two more Indian visa application centres would be opened to handle Bangladeshi visa seekers more efficiently, an Indian High Commission official in Bangladesh said on Tuesday.

“We have five Indian Visa Application Centres (IVAC) in Bangladesh and two more will be opened in Barisal and Mymensingh,” Mohammad Afsar, Second Secretary at the High Commission of India, said at a briefing on Indian visa system.

“Indian missions in Bangladesh issued about half a million visas last year and the trend is increasing,” he said.

About 80 percent of the visas were for tourism followed by medical and then business, he added. “We also have dedicated Visa Help Desk to provide support to the visa seekers.”

Medical visa

Indian High Commission is ‘very flexible’ in giving visa for medical purpose, said Sujit Ghosh, First Secretary at the mission.

“Two attendances can get visas and patients need not come for interview if they are sick,” he said.

Visa rejection

The Indian official said incomplete documents and problems in passport are the two major reasons for their refusing visa.

“Visa applications must be backed by relevant documents, otherwise it is not possible for us to issue to visa,” Ghosh said, “We also rejected visa for passport forgery.”

India outsourced visa application collection operations in 2005 and introduced online visa application in 2010.

There is no visa fee but there is a charge for processing visa application and the High Commission tries to give visa within three working days, the officials said.

Source: benews24