After nearly three years, after being suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic, walk-in applicants will be allowed for documentation related to travel to India from Wednesday.
This was announced by India’s high commission to Ottawa on Tuesday. This facility will be available from February 1 at the centres operated by BLS, the firm that has been contracted for this purpose.
“All applicants seeking visa, OCI, passport and other consular services can use the walk-in mode to submit their applications and supporting documents,” a release from the high commission said, adding that this could be done without prior appointment.
The announcement came even as a large backlog of applications is pending for the issuance of these travel documents. In December, India’s high commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma pointed to the rising demand for Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cards, as the number of applications grew to 49,000 in November as against 26,000 for the same month last year.
The reason for the growing demand is the rising population of Indian-origin immigrants in Canada. There are about 240,000 students from India at Canadian institutions at this time, while in 2021, India was the top source country for permanent residents, with 127,933, or over a quarter of the total, admitted.
Acceptance of walk-in applicants is part of the gradual normalisation of services which were disrupted due to the coronavirus crisis. The e-visa programme for Canadian nationals resumed in December, though there is no timeline to renew the ten-year multiple entry tourist visa scheme which was suspended when the Covid-19 pandemic started in the spring of 2020.
“Walk-in services are being introduced in addition to the appointment and postal modes, which would continue to remain available,” the release noted.
The high commission also requested those who had already booked appointments for submission of their applications, and were now going to use the walk-in facility to cancel their appointment slots.
Source- Hindustan Times.
