Swiss Visa Application Centres to open in 10 Indian cities

Switzerland and VFS Global have partnered to open branches of Swiss Visa Application Centres (VACs) in 10 cities across India, in addition to the existing VACs in New Delhi and Mumbai. Residents of Chandigarh, Kolkata, Jalandhar, Cochin, Chennai, Pondicherry, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Pune and Hyderabad will soon be able to avail of the services of satellite Visa Application Centres in their cities while applying for visa to travel to Switzerland. The partnership will be established as a pilot project and is limited to two years.

The VACs will open in 3 phases. During the first and second phase, which will be completed in March 2012, Visa Application Centre branches will be opened in Chandigarh, Kolkata, Jalandhar, Cochin, Chennai, Pondicherry and Bengaluru. VACs in Ahmedabad, Pune and Hyderabad will be operational in the third phase which will be concluded by mid-2012.

Switzerland appointed VFS Global for outsourcing its visa application processing services in New Delhi in November 2007 and subsequently in August 2008 in Mumbai.

Some of the key features of the Swiss VACs are longer operating hours, dedicated website for easy access, professional and responsive staff to handle visa queries, dedicated call centre unit, email support, facility for photocopy & photo booths, options for mode of payment, etc.