Covid: US cancels visa appointments in Delhi till May 9

NEW DELHI: The US Embassy in New Delhi has cancelled all in-person visa and interview-waiver till May 9 due to the worsening pandemic situation.
About 50 VFS Global centres across India have stopped accepting visa applications for some countries.
To be sure, hardly any country that partially resumed visa processing in India during the pandemic has completely stopped the process as a whole and has done so only in a few cities.
In a tweet on Friday, the US Embassy said: “All US Embassy New Delhi’s in-person visa appointments and interview-waiver appointments are cancelled from April 26-May 9 in light of current pandemic conditions. We will make every attempt to honour scheduled emergency appointments. The New Delhi VAC (visa application centre) is able to honour emergency biometrics appointments only. Emergency services for US citizens will continue. The consulates in Chennai, Hyderabad, and Kolkata continue to offer limited visa appointments, but may cancel certain appointments as local conditions require.”
In a statement, VFS Global said: “As per lockdown/curfew restrictions announced in some states, select VFS Global visa applications centres are currently temporarily closed in certain cities. VFS Global works strictly in accordance with client government directives as well as guidelines from local state governments.”
According to VFS Global data, 16 countries have temporarily suspended visa application processing in some centres. This does mean that those countries have stopped visa processing at VFS centres across India but only in some cities.
For instance, Luxembourg has stopped processing in 8 cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad. Lebanon has stopped in six cities; Ukraine and Georgia in five each; Poland, Morocco and Netherland in four each; and South Africa and South Korea in two each.
Seven countries that have stopped processing in atleast one city include Canada, Denmark, Austria, Nigeria, Dominican Republic, Belarus and Thailand.
“Information (given on) visa application centres (where some countries have temporarily suspended visa applications)… is fluid and being updated regularly. Please visit the country-specific website on www.vfsglobal.com for the most updated information. Air travel on all routes is subject to government advisories and permissions for air travel may be independent of the visa process,” it said.