Outsourced facility for Bangla visa processing – Times of India

Kolkata: Bangladesh deputy high commission (BDHC) in Kolkata is set to outsource its visa processing facility to a private agency with office in CP Block Sector V. Most of the other countries with consular offices in Kolkata already use outsourced facilities with many of them including the US, the UK, Schengen countries and Australia using VFS that operates from an office in Kasba’s Rajdanga.
The facility, though, will come at a cost. While there was no processing fee charged earlier, applicants may have to pay Rs 850 as processing fee now. The other consular offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Guwahati and Agartala will continue to function as usual with no plans to outsource visa processing. The Kolkata office gets more applicants than all the other offices put together.
Officials at BDHC said the outsourcing was aimed at decongesting its office at Circus Avenue that witnessed serpentine queues of the visa seekers all year-round. Incidentally, the Kolkata office has been the country’s first overseas mission since 1971 and has been granting visas for 50 years.
The move will also enhance the security at the diplomatic mission. With hundreds thronging the office daily, security persons had a challenging time monitoring people’s movement despite the presence of multiple CCTV cameras. Most of the other consulates do not allow crowding in the vicinity to ensure security.
The new visa centre is likely to be inaugurated on December 16 that is celebrated as Vijay Diwas to mark Bangladesh’s liberation from Pakistan. Spread over 13,000 sqft, the visa processing centre will have a waiting area for over 300 people in addition to rest room, prayer room, cafeteria and a digital help corner to assist visa applicants.
The visa centre will accept applications from 9am to 3pm and will deliver visas from 1pm to 6pm. There will be about 13 counters against just three at the BDHC office.
The demand for visa though has been much lower than usual since March 2020 due to the Covid situation and uncertainty over transport. Prior to the Covid, the office issued around 1,000 visas daily. But now, only a handful of business visas are granted.