Passport service suspension to impact thousands of Indian expats in UAE

Abu Dhabi: Thousands of Indian expats in the UAE will be impacted due to a suspension in the Indian passport services because of technical maintenance of the Passport Seva Portal for five days starting from August 29 evening.

The Passport Seva Portal will be unavailable for five days from Thursday, August 29 to Monday, September 2, according to a notice on the official website.

Due to the system upgrade, passport, Emergency Certificate (EC) and Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) services will not be available from 6.30pm in the UAE on Thursday till 4.30am here Monday.

The Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi confirmed to Gulf News that applicants with appointments for these services at the outsourced service provider BLS International will be impacted. BLS Centres on Thursday put out notices that said: “Passport Seva Portal is temporarily under maintenance. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

Who can apply?

Those applicants, who have managed to fill their applications online, will still be able to submit their applications to BLS even during the period of portal maintenance, a spokesperson of the Embassy clarified. “However, the processing of these applications will resume only from Monday,” he clarified.

Mostly, Indian applicants get the forms filled for a fee at BLS centres though they have the option to fill the application online and submit the printout at the service centres.

“Those applicants, who cannot fill the forms before the maintenance work begins, will not be able to submit their applications during the maintenance period. We encourage applicants with appointments during this period to try and get their forms filled today so that they can submit the applications promptly at the time of their appointment. Otherwise, they will have to reschedule their appointments,” the spokesperson said.

When Gulf News reached out to BLS International for its comments on how it will accommodate the applicants who might miss their appointments due to the service suspension, a top executive said: “Each and every applicant affected due to the global Passport Seva Portal maintenance will be accommodated on a different date. Alternatively, applicants also have the option to reschedule their appointment for a suitable date online.”

Vinay Nambiar, country manager, BLS International Services, added that emails will go to every applicant with a booking as they have received booking confirmation via emails.

Consular and visa services

The Embassy clarified that consular and visa services will, however, continue to be rendered at BLS centres.

The Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi along with the Indian Consulate in Dubai issue the largest number of Indian passports outside India. Between 1500 to 2000 applications are processed by the missions every day.

Embassy statement

“Passport and related services (including TATKAAL and PCC) will not be rendered in the Embassy as well as at all the centers of M/s BLS International from 29th August 2024, Thursday from 17:00 hrs UAE time to 1st September 2024, Sunday,” the Embassy said in a notice issued on Thursday evening.

TATKAAL is the emergency service to get a passport issued for a higher fee.

The Embassy also clarified that BLS will give revised appointment date to applicants who have already fixed their appointments for 30 and 31 August 2024, in the next week from 2nd September to 8 September 2024.

“In case the revised appointment date is not convenient to the applicant, he/she can go to any BLS centre after the revised appointment date and submit the passport application as walk-in. No Separate appointment will be required for this purpose,” the mission added in the notice.