INDIA – New Application Procedure for U.S. Based Applications
Effective May 21st, all India visa applications submitted in the U.S. will be processed via a different visa agency, named Cox & Kings Global Services. The current provider, BLS, will cease to provide India visa processing services in the U.S. As a result of this transition delays are expected.
Who is Cox & Kings?
Cox & Kings is a visa processing agency which has won the contract for the management of Indian visa applications handled in several countries. The practice of having a visa processing agency oversee the management of visa applications is fairly commonplace – many governments elect to do this to minimize the number of incomplete and faulty applications they need to review. Since July 2013, Indian applications in the US have been handled via BLS, but that contract has now been taken over by Cox & Kings.
Transition Period
The Embassy of India in Washington, D.C. announced the change on May7th and provided the following details of the handover of services to the new provider:
- The current service provider, BLS, will accept mailed applications posted up to May 13th and arriving by May 15th. Applications likely to arrive after May 15th, should be sent to Cox & Kings and will be processed beginning May 21st.
- BLS, will accept in-person applications until the afternoon of May 16th at all of its US locations.
- BLS will accept only Emergency Visa applications until May 20th.
- The progress of pending applications with BLS can be checked on the BLS website until May 20th and on the Cox & Kings website thereafter. Details for the Cox & Kings applications website and office locations will be published shortly.