Nagpur, Indore lead non-metros in seeing maximum rise in demand for VFS doorstep visa service for UK & Schengen countries

NEW DELHI: Non-metros, led by Nagpur and Indore, have shown the maximum increase in demand for the “doorstep visa service” launched by the VFS Group recently. The visa major, which offers this service for UK and 11 Schengen countries, says it saw doorstep visa application double in 2018 over 2017 in Goa, Lucknow, Shillong, Nagpur, Bhubaneshwar, Mangalore and Gurgaon.
Launched in 2016, applicants under this scheme do not visit a visa application centre.Visa application officers come to the applicant’s home, office or location of choice to accept the visa application, other documentation and enrol biometrics. This comfort comes at a much higher price than making the regular at VFS’ centres.
“In 2018, cities across India showed high growth in doorstep visa applications. Applications processed through ‘visa at your doorstep’ service grew at an average year-on-year growth of 144%. The highest number of doorstep applications processed in 2018 was in Nagpur followed by Indore,” VFS said. It, however, did not give absolute numbers for this service.
VFS Global regional group COO (Middle East, South Asia and China) Vinay Malhotra said: “While VFS Global has an extensive physical network of visa application centres in 17 cities across India, this service exponentially increases the reach of visa services to every corner of the country… there was high growth in doorstep application numbers even in cities where there are physical centres present. Flexibility and superior customer experience are top priorities of customers in any industry, and the visa industry is no different. Applicants have appreciated the customised nature of the service, and the overall enhanced experience in submitting application, documents and enrolling biometrics, all from the comfort of their home or office.“
VFS says the cities that saw over 100% increase in the number of doorstep applications include Goa, Lucknow, Shillong, Mumbai, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Bhubaneshwar, Mangalore, Ahmedabad and Gurgaon. Among Tier 2 cities which showed significantly high growth of doorstep visa applications were Raipur (Chattisgarh), Bhilwara (Rajasthan) and Shillong (Meghalaya).
“Cities which availed visa at your doorstep for the first time in 2018 (since the service was introduced in 2016) include Allahabad, Amravati, Trivandrum, Male, Erode, Dhaka, Bangalore, Pune, Kolkata, Bhubaneshwar, Surat, Nagercoil, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Tirupur, Mizoram, Telangana, Muzzafarpur, Indore, Chattisgarh, Palakkad, Bhutan, Guwhati, Colombo, Jodhpur and Chattarpur. In 2018, the West region processed 56% of the total number of doorstep visa applications, accounting for the most number of applications processed through this service,” VFS added.
The visa major says this service is popular among corporates, large groups of travellers, film crews, celebrities, travel agencies, applicants living in cities away from the 17 cities with physical VFS Global visa application centres, and high net worth individuals.
VFS Global in India serves 48 client governments, and handles about 50 lakh applications annually. It has visa application centres in 17 Indian cities, along with temporary centres and doorstep visa services in all cities. It is world’s largest visa services provider managing millions of applications a year in 143 countries, for 62 client governments worldwide.