Attention US visa applicants! VFS Global announces 3-day temporary shutdown: Here are the dates

VFS Global, the visa application service provider for the US embassy in India, has announced that its customer service center will be temporarily closed from July 12-14.

The closure is due to a migration to a new platform. During this time, VFS Global will not be able to answer calls, accept fee payments, or book appointments.

“Attention visa applicants! Our customer service center VFS is migrating to a new platform and will be temporarily closed for calls, fee payments, and appointment booking from July 12-14. These services will resume on July 15," US Embassy in India tweeted.

If you need to contact VFS Global during this time, you can do so via email or social media. VFS Global will also be providing updates on its website.

The customer service center will resume normal operations on July 15, 2023.

VFS Global is the world's leading provider of government and diplomatic outsourcing and technology services.

For its client governments, the organisation manages administrative and non-judgmental visa, passport, and consular services.

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In June 2023, United States Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti said that the wait time for first-time tourist visa interviews in the United States has been reduced by over 50%.

The wait time for first-time tourist visa interviews in India had been as high as 12 months in some cases. However, the US Embassy in India has taken steps to reduce the wait time, and the average wait time is now down to around 3 months.

"We're already doing this. We're currently processing more visas, faster, than the US Mission in India ever has before. We have set a goal for ourselves to process at least a million visas in 2023, and we're already more than halfway towards reaching that goal," Garcetti said while addressing the audience at IIT Delhi.

According to Reuters, Indians have been travelling abroad more, particularly to the United States, which is attempting to accommodate the new tourism boom by constructing two new consulates in the country, in Bengaluru and Ahmedabad.

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