There has been tension in the India – Canada diplomatic relationships over allegations made by the Canadian government earlier this week. While I won’t be going into the reasons and the rights and wrongs of it (this is not a political website), I wanted to bring up to speed the impact this is having on travel between the two countries.

India stops accepting visa applications in Canada.

The Indian Mission in Canada has been using the services of an outsourced visa documents collection service, similar to VFS Global in Canada, called BLS (listed in India), since 2013. Overnight, a new message has turned up on their website, which states,

 Important notice from Indian Mission: Due to operational reasons, with effect from 21 September 2023, Indian visa services have been suspended till further notice. Please keep checking BLS website for further updates.

This turns up as a scrolling message on top of the home page without any links to follow to a detailed advisory.

This was also confirmed via a filing on the stock exchanges by BLS International, so no fluke there.

However, the Indian High Commission in Ottawa or the other diplomatic outposts in Canada do not have any such notices on their website at the moment, so it is a bit surprising to see the move.

India issues advisory to Indians travelling to Canada

Not just that, India has issued an advisory for Indian travellers heading to Canada. You can read it below.

 

Bottomline

While India and Canada sort out their diplomatic issues, it seems (and not yet fully confirmed) that India has temporarily stopped accepting applications to issue Indian Visas for applicants in Canada. There is also a strong worded advisory advising travellers from India to take care and be vigilant.

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