Passport services for Indian expats in UAE face disruption again
Indian Embassy announces revised appointments for applicants hit by portal maintenance
Abu Dhabi: Passport services for Indian expats in the UAE will be disrupted this weekend, the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi has announced.
This is due to technical maintenance of the Passport Seva Portal from 6.30pm here today, Friday, to 4.30am on Monday, September 23, according to the Embassy’s notice on social media.
“Passport and related services (including TATKAAL and PCC) will not be rendered in the Embassy as well as at all the centres of BLS International (the outsourced service provider),” the Embassy stated.
Fast-track service
TATKAAL is the emergency fast-track service to get a passport issued for a higher fee and PCC refers to the Police Clearance Certificate.
Since Sunday is a holiday, the service disruption will affect only those who have booked their appointments for passport services for Saturday, September 21.
This is the second time within a month that the Indian passport services are getting suspended for the technical maintenance of the Passport Seva Portal.
Thousands of Indian expats in the UAE were impacted due to a suspension in the services from 6.30pm on Thursday, August 29, to 4.30am on Monday, September 2. In effect, it affected those who had booked their appointments on two days—August 30 and 31.
Revised appointment
The Embassy said, like last time, BLS will give a revised appointment date to applicants who have already fixed their appointments for September 21, in the next week from September 23 to 27.
“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 clarified.
It added that other Consular and Visa Services will continue to be rendered at all centres of BLS across the UAE on September 21.
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.