From 2nd November 2020, Cox & Kings Global Services (CKGS) won’t be the outsourcing service provider for visa services for the Indian Embassy in the United States. Cox & Kings Global Services (CKGS) will be shutting down their service centre in Washington DC for OCI, Visa services, Renunciation, Passport and Global Entry Program at 5 PM on 14th October.
The Embassy announced on 9th October that CKGS is going to be replaced by VFS Global as their visa service provider. From 19th October the Embassy will provide direct services only for emergencies till the new service provider takes over, which is expected to be by 2nd November. In a public notice published by the Indian Embassy, it is stated that OCI service will remain shut down till VFS Global initiates its operations.
During the transition period for issuing an emergency visa to the valid categories to travel to India, applicants need to send an email to ‘asovisa.washington@mea.gov.in’ and ‘visa1.washington@mea.gov.in’. But till 5 PM on 14th October applicants can send their documents to Cox & Kings Global Services website (https://www.in.ckgs.us/). Also, applicants need to make sure that to ship their documents to CKGS with prepaid return envelopes, so the shipment reaches them by 5 PM on 16th October. Any papers received after that deadline will be returned to the applicant without processing. The applicants need to make sure that they take care of obtaining the processed applications as the Indian Embassy or CKGS will be responsible for handling any returned documents.
For applicants who need emergency passport services, they need to send an email to ‘attcons1.washington@mea.gov.in’ with the explanation of the reason. Applicants need to only start the application process after getting approval from the Embassy. After receiving the document checklist, applicants can submit their applications with required documents based on their category of visa, and the Embassy may request for more documents if they need it.
Applicants need to contact the Special Issuance Agency of the Department of State to finish necessary formalities to get a Diplomatic visa. For further information or issue that you may face, applicants can send an email to ‘attcons.washington@mea.gov.in’.
Indians residing in the jurisdiction of Consulates General of India at New York, San Francisco, Atlanta, Chicago and Houston have to visit the website of their respective Consulate for more details during the transition period of the service provider. Contacts details for VFS Global, Operational Hours, Service rates and more will be published on the website of Embassy of India in due time as per their announcement.
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