Special Indian visa camp held for armed forces

The High Commission of India today organized a special visa camp for family members of serving and retired Armed Forces personnel at Dhaka Cantonment.

Indian High Commission in partnership with the Armed Forces Division, Prime Minister's Office, Government of Bangladesh, organized the visa camp at Sena Malancha in Dhaka Cantonment, said an official release of High Commission of India.

The camp was jointly inaugurated by the High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh, Harsh Vardhan Shringla and Lt. Gen. Mahfuzur Rahman, rcds, afwc,psc, PhD, Principal Staff Officer, Armed Forces Division.

The High Commission of India has taken a number of initiatives in recent months to streamline, liberalize and ease the process of securing Indian visas.

A visa camp was organised ahead of the Eid vacations in the month of June 2016, during which more than 55,000 tourist visas were issued to Bangladesh nationals.

A similar camp was organized for students in October 2016 with the participation of over 2000 students.

To simplify the visa process, anyone with a confirmed journey ticket by air /road/rail can submit their visa application at 9 Indian Visa Application Centres (IVACs) without an appointment date under the walk-in Tourist Visa Scheme.

The requirement of appointment date for senior citizens and minors has been waived off. All personnel over 65 years of age have been made eligible for a five years visa.

Women are given priority access and IVAC Mirpur is kept open exclusively on Saturdays for women applicants and their immediate family members; and dependent family members of diplomats and officials can submit their Tourist visa application forms at IVAC Uttara on a walk-in basis.

These measures are aimed at strengthening people-to-people contacts between India and Bangladesh.

Source: BSS