India Opens 8 New Consular Centres in US To Expand Services For Diaspora

NDTV

17 hours ago

India has opened eight new consular centres across the US, significantly expanding the delivery footprint for visa, passport and other services and streamlining them to make them more accessible and efficient for the Indian diaspora in the country.
India's Ambassador to the US Vinay Kwatra on Friday virtually inaugurated the new Indian Consular Application Centres (ICAC) in Boston, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Edison, Orlando, Raleigh and San Jose. An additional ICAC will soon open in Los Angeles.
Starting August 1, 2025, all consular services, including passport, visa, OCI, surrender certificate, life certificate, birth/marriage certificate, police clearance, attestations, and more, will be provided exclusively through VFS Global Centres.
The expansion brings the total number of ICACs across the US to 17, making consular services more accessible to Indian and American citizens in the country.
Kwatra described this as a "very significant" expansion of the consular services delivery footprint offered by the Embassy of India across the United States, which is home to a nearly five million-strong Indian diaspora.
Kwatra said that the expansion underscores Prime Minister Narendra Modi's deep regard for the Indian diaspora, which the Indian leader has described as the "strongest brand ambassador of India" and is at the heart of a strong India-US partnership that is manifested through people-to-people ties between the two societies.
"We are confident that these centres will play a crucial role in fostering and continuing a strong relationship with our diaspora, but at the same time also empower our diaspora to engage more deeply between our two countries," Kwatra said.
He added that the diaspora plays a significant and crucial role in strengthening and contributing to the India-US relationship.
Highlighting the "very strong political engagement between the two countries" in recent months, Kwatra noted PM Modi's visit to Washington in February, visits by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, as well as the visit by US Vice President J D Vance and his family to India in April.
Kwatra said these visits have "really deepened not just the discussions, but also the scope and the depth of our partnership."
"It is my belief, as has also been stated by the Prime Minister, that you are a living bridge between our two societies, two countries. You contribute to the development and enrichment of this relationship, as also of the two countries. And I hope that you will continue to play this important and irreplaceable role," he said.
India's Consul General in New York, Binaya Pradhan, attended the special inauguration ceremony at the Indian Consular Application Centre in Edison that was attended by Edison Mayor Sam Joshi as well as prominent members of the Indian-American community. Kwatra inaugurated the centres and addressed the diaspora who also joined virtually from across the new centres that have been opened.
Head of North America and Caribbean, VFS Global, Amit Kumar Sharma told the gathering in Edison that the agency's focus has been to make "our services more convenient, comfortable and more accessible" and to serve the community better.
Noting that the centres will now be open on Saturdays as well, Sharma pointed out, amid applause, that VFS has worked with 70 governments across 150 countries, and this will be the first time that it is going to work for any government on a Saturday.
This commitment "reflects the mindset of the leadership, what they want to achieve," Sharma said.
"And they came up with a process that addresses these concerns," Sharma said.
He stressed that various services like call centres will be improved and streamlined to ensure enhanced deliveries for the community members.
"I am very hopeful that these new expansions will help the community, help the diaspora take these services in a much more efficient way. This is a testament to our commitment as well. We take pride in making these services comfortable, convenient and accessible for people, and we will continue to do that," Sharma said. In addition to the new centres, the Embassy of India is enhancing operational accessibility and service deliveries effective immediately.
As part of this, all 17 ICACs will operate six days a week, including Saturdays, offering flexibility for applicants to access these consular services without causing disruption to their work schedule during weekdays.
To further streamline access, a number of miscellaneous consular and attestation services will be provided through the application centres, which Kwatra said will add to the convenience and administrative efficiency of the delivery of consular services in the US.
Referring to PM Modi's announcement that two additional consulates will be opened in Boston and Los Angeles, Kwatra said "we are currently working very intensely to ensure that these two consulates begin their work as early as possible and are functional" soon.
"The opening of the two new consulates in Boston and Los Angeles captures our intent that given the nature of our growing strength of India-US partnership, there is a need to expand the diplomatic footprint across the United States, and the opening of these two consulates captures that objective of ours," the Indian Ambassador said.