No new applications for OCI card, Indian passport, visa to India, and Renunciation of Indian Citizenship will be entertained by Cox & Kings Global Services with effect from October 16, 2020. An outsourcing service provider for the government of India, Cox & Kings Global Services (CKGS) will close its operations at Indian Missions worldwide on October 14. Reportedly, VFS Global will take the charge with effect from November 2, 2020.
Picture Credit: India Abroad | The New York Times
Those having compelling/unavoidable reasons to apply for emergency visa to India, Indian Passport, or OCI card are hereby requested to contact their nearest Indian Consulate/Embassy. From October 19, Indian Missions will directly provide the services, in limited capacity, to applicants with emergency cases. Notably, all OCI card processing services will remain suspended until VFS Global takes over the operations on November 2.
The CKGS website will accept online applications till 5 pm on October 14, 2020. Applicants are required to ensure their documents with pre-paid return envelopes reach CKGS by 5 pm on October 16. Any applications submitted and any documents received after the above-mentioned deadlines will not be processed, according to CKGS.
The websites of Indian embassies and consulates will publish the details of VFS Global, including service fees, operational hours, and contact information in due course. Indian Missions need the applicant with a compelling reason to contact them directly for further information.
The email helplines of Indian embassies and consulates are open for emergency visa applications. Indian Missions will continue to issue emergency visa to applicants in the eligible categories allowed to travel to India. If you are from New York, you can apply for emergency Indian visa to visa.newyork@mea.gov.in. If you reside in Washington DC and its jurisdiction, you can write to asovisa.washington@mea.gov.in explaining the emergency.
Once your email request for emergency visa to India is approved, you will be informed of the steps to initiate the application process. Following the procedure, you may send the completed form along with a pre-paid return envelope by postal mail to your nearest consulate or embassy for further processing.
The procedure for emergency passport applications is as same as the above. However, email addresses of the Indian Embassy and Consulates in the United States and other countries are different for emergency passport applications. If you have any further query, it can be addressed through PRAMIT dashboard available on the websites of Indian Missions.
It is a good news
CKGS services are horrible
It’s great news. CKGS services are horrible and their staff are very disrespectful to customer. They never valued the time, energy and money customer spend on their services. As Indian citizen we should celebrate this occasion as a relief from CKGS crap. Thank God
CKGS customer service phone doesn’t work. The website is so confusing although the tracking updates are awesome. It was pins and needles with the application process !
Do you do Indian Passport renunciation as well?
Before the Visa application, I do need to surrender my old expired passport.
I appreciate your response, which would signal me to begin the process.
Thanks
AJ
I want to ask is CKGS is close from Sweden how can I apply Indian visa