UK to process visas from Chennai applicants from July 6

With international flights set to start, the UK and Ireland will start processing visas from applicants in Chennai from July 6. While people can apply for all category visas to the UK, only student visas and long stay visas will be issued to Ireland.
City residents are also allowed to apply for visas for Belarus, Denmark, Norway, Portugal and the Dominican Republic by submitting applications and documents in Delhi.
As lockdown restrictions continue and international air travel opens up gradually, countries have started to allow visa processing in India.

Pranav Sinha, regional head (west & south India, Maldives, Sri Lanka) for VFS Global said in an online interaction on Tuesday that there would not be much of a change in visa application process because of the pandemic though applicants may have to take precautions and maintain social distancing inside VFS centres.
Though VFS will be using the same strength of staff at its centres, the number of appointments given per day may depend on the numbers allotted by the country to which visa is applied.
“The number of appointments may go up gradually. If people do not want to come to the centres to give biometrics, we have a system to send staff to the doorstep of applicants,” he added.

However, there is no clarity yet on whether foreign governments will ask applicants to submit health documents especially for those who had recovered from Covid-19.
He also said: “Governments may introduce health screening measures going forward, so applicants should make sure to go through updated document checklist for the country in case any medical and vaccination histories are required as part of visa application.”
Basheer Ahmed of Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) said: “This will help people to renew visa and also apply for visa for travel at a later date. People can also apply for visa for travel in August or September by showing a booking certificate for a later date so that they will be able to travel soon after resumption of flights.”

Source: timesofindia.com
TNN | Updated: Jul 2, 2020, 09:50 IST