P
eople planning to apply for Indian visas, renew passports or access other consular services through VFS Global in Australia will face delays after the service provider announced a temporary suspension of operations.
In a notice published on its website, VFS Global said it will temporarily suspend all Consular, Passport, Visa (CPV) and Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) services across Australia from 1 July until further notice.
The company said the suspension applies to all application submissions and apologised for the inconvenience caused. It advised applicants to continue checking its website for updates on when services will resume.
The move is expected to affect a broad range of applicants, including Australian travellers requiring regular visas to India, Indian passport holders seeking renewals, OCI card applicants, police clearance certificate applicants and people requiring attestation and other consular services.
While VFS Global has announced the suspension, no detailed explanation has been provided in the public notice.
The websites of the High Commission of India in Canberra and the Consulates General continue to list VFS Global as the authorised outsourcing partner for passport, visa and consular services. The Consulate General of India in Sydney has also published a notification referring to the temporary suspension of “Consular, Passport, Visa and OCI Services by VFS Global Australia”, directing applicants to the VFS website for further information.
The suspension comes at the start of the July school holiday period, when demand for travel to India is typically high. Applicants with urgent travel plans are advised to monitor official updates before lodging applications or travelling to a VFS centre.
No date has been announced for the resumption of services. Applicants are encouraged to check the official VFS Global website and the websites of the High Commission of India and the relevant Consulate General for the latest information.
The temporary suspension comes just weeks after The Indian Sun reported that Melbourne’s VFS centre would relocate to larger premises on St Kilda Road. Speaking to multicultural media, Consul General Anish Rajan said the new centre would have 15 counters to improve services for the Indian diaspora and Australian travellers by reducing long waiting times. The suspension announced by VFS Global is unrelated to the planned relocation.
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