Australia and VFS Global extend visa service delivery in India and Nepal

Visa application process for Australia made convenient through 13 state-of-the-art Visa Application Centres

Australia’s Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) and VFS Global have agreed to provide visa application services through three new and 10upgraded Australia Visa Application Centres (VACs) across the region.

Travellers to Australia from India and Nepal can now apply for their visas more convenientlyfrom nineupgraded VACs located in Indian cities of Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai (North) and New Delhi, and one in Kathmandu, Nepal.In future, visa applicants can lodge their visa requests from three new Australia VACs, to be rolled out in Jalandhar, Mumbai (South) and Pune over the next two weeks. This enhanced service network will save time and travel expense, and will speed up the entire visa application process.

While inaugurating the Australia VAC in Mumbai on 12 June 2014, Mr Mark Pierce, Australian Consul General, Mumbai welcomed the new facilities and hoped that they would help lead to increased numbers of Indian business leaders, students and tourists to Australia.

“For the first time in its history, our High Commission in New Delhi issued more than 100,000 tourism visas to Indians in a single financial year, with numbers increasing by 10 percent in the first three months of this year. This is a real milestone for the bilateral relationship, said Mr Pierce. This follows a 50 per cent increase in Indian student visa applications over the last year.”

Upbeat about this partnership, Mr Anil Katoch, COO – South Asia, VFS Global stated, “VFS Global is privileged to partner the Government of Australia since October2007 in Indiaand Nepal, besides serving the client government in 21 other countries globally. Catering to the growing demand of Australia bound travellers in India; weaim to offer high-quality applicant-friendly services to provide a seamless visa application experience to all travellers applying through our Visa Application Centres.This extension of our association with the Government of Australia reflects their faith in our abilities, and we are sure this will go a long way in forging a longstanding partnership with VFS Global.”

The key features of the new centres include:

Conveniently located and easily accessible state-of-the art Visa Application Centres
Revised operating hours keeping in mind applicants’ convenience and country specific requirements
Dedicated counters for applicants and travel agents/ tour operators
Premium Lounge facilities available at Chennai and Bengaluru locations
Facility for “witnessing” copies of original passports and documents
Internet kiosk with scanning and mailing facility
SMS service for tracking application status
Video Conferencing facility for interviews
100% secure handling of passports, documents and personal information
Professional and responsive staff with local language capability dedicated to handle visa queries and applications
Automated queue governance for smooth flow of applicants, providing better crowd management
Dedicated website for easy access to information including visa categories, requirements and check-list and applicable fees
Dedicated call centres and email support to answer queries and status of application
Doorstep delivery of passports

All applications will continue to be assessed and processed by respective missions of Australia in the region. For more information about the visa application centres, please visit https://www.vfs-au-in.com/

CONTACT DETAILS AND TIMINGS

Helpline:India: +912267866006| Nepal: + 00977-1-4410634

Email:[email protected]| Website:https://www.vfs-au-in.com/

ADDRESS AND TIMINGS

New Delhi

Address: 9, Ground Floor, Block E, International Trade Tower, Nehru Place, New Delhi – 110019