UAE walk-in passport services for some Indian expats in UAE
THE Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi has announced that walk-in appointments for select categories of passport, visa and attestation applicants will now be accepted at all 16 Indian Consular Application Centres (ICACs) across the UAE.
The move is aimed at streamlining the process of submitting applications for passport services and ensuring quality public service delivery, the mission said in the announcement on social media on Sunday.
Who can walk in and when?
Walk-in appointments will be available between 9am and 1pm at all centres, which are run by outsourced service provider Alhind Tours and Travels.
The service will operate on a first-come, first-served basis for the following categories:
Tatkal passport applications
Newborns
Emergency certificate (EC) applications
Senior citizens aged 60 and above
People of determination
Prior booking still preferred
While the above categories are now eligible to walk in without a prior appointment, the embassy has clarified that applicants who book a slot in advance through https://consularsevainuae.com will be attended to as per their scheduled appointment time.
Walk-in applicants, on the other hand, will be accommodated depending on slot availability at each centre.
“To avoid long waiting periods, applicants in the above categories are encouraged to book online appointments to the extent possible,” the mission said.
Where to apply
Applicants can find the list of all 16 ICAC locations across the UAE and book appointments, where preferred, through the official portal at https://consularsevainuae.com.
The announcement comes after a massive rush following the transition to the new service provider for the Indian consular, passport and visa application processes due to legal hurdles that partially disrupted the services for almost a month.
After weeks of rush and pending applications at the ICACs that opened on July 22, the system has been streamlined, according to the Consul General of India in Dubai Dr E. Vishnu Vardhan Reddy.
Improvements in processing applications
Speaking at the 80th Indian Independence Day celebrations at the Indian Consulate in Dubai on Saturday, Dr Reddy revealed improvements in passport processing.
He noted that pending Tatkal (the fast-track system for urgent applications at a higher fee) and regular passport applications had been cleared, with normal passports now processed within five working days and Tatkal applications dispatched within three days at centres in Dubai and Northern Emirates.
Earlier this month, he had confirmed that walk-ins were available to applicants for Tatkal cases, newborns and applicants of emergency certificates (a one-way travel document for those who do not have a valid passport).
The Indian Embassy has now confirmed walk-in services for wider categories of applicants at all ICACs.
The Indian missions in the UAE, which cater to the 4.5-million-strong Indian expat community here, process the highest number of passport applications outside India.
