The Embassy of India in Abu Dhabi has confirmed that Al Hind Tours & Travels LLC will take over the entire portfolio of outsourced passport, visa and consular services across the United Arab Emirates from 1 July 2026. Current vendors—BLS International Services and SGIVS Global—will wind down operations by 30 June, after which all walk-in and courier applications must be lodged with the new provider’s ‘India Visa Centre’ network in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. For the 3.5 million-strong Indian diaspora, the change is more than cosmetic. Al Hind says it will introduce biometric capture booths, appointment scheduling via WhatsApp and a 48-hour courier return option, promising to shorten average passport-renewal time to seven working days. Crucially for businesses, the company will pilot an ‘Executive Desk’ that batches up to 50 passports from a single corporate client—useful for offshore crews and project teams rotating into India on short notice. Employers should update internal travel policies quickly: the embassy has clarified that service fees, forms and document check-lists will change on the switchover date, and any partially completed applications with the outgoing vendors must be resubmitted from scratch. Mobility managers are also advised to brief UAE-based staff on new collection locations; failure to pick up documents from the correct centre could trigger storage penalties. Long-term, officials hint that the tie-up is a pilot for a region-wide consolidation of outsourcing contracts, with similar tenders expected in Saudi Arabia and Qatar next year. If the Abu Dhabi model succeeds, Indian missions in the Gulf could move to a single technology platform, making it easier for expatriates to track applications when moving between countries on temporary assignments.
Source: Outlook Traveller
