Indian consulate in Jeddah to outsource consular work

Dubai, Jul 1 (UNI) The Consulate General of India in Jeddah is to outsource visa support services for foreign nationals visiting India and passport support services to Indian expatriates in the Kingdom.

The Indian mission in the UAE has already outsourced services, a move which has come under some criticism from expatriates as it makes it more expensive and dispenses with the services of Indian associations which have been partly doing the job.

The firms designated in the Kingdom for the purpose are Al-Fifa for General Services in Dammam, Al-Tayyar Travel Group in Jeddah and Yes GCC LLC, Dubai, UAE.

The consulate has signed agreements with these firms, which are expected to take over the work related to collection of applications for visas and passports in the Western Province from August 16, subjected to their completing all formalities and infrastructure before that date.

After outsourcing, the visa/passport applicants, instead of visiting the consulate, will approach the outsourcing firms with all required documents, Arab News said.

The decision follows the Indian government's policy to outsource visa support services. Several overseas Indian missions and posts have already entered into agreements for outsourcing both visa services and a few of them for obtaining visa and passport support services.

UNI XC RJ PM0920