India inaugurates world's largest visa centre in Bangladesh

Rajnath Singh (centre) during the inauguration of the centre. Pic/PTI

Visiting Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday inaugurated the world's largest state-of-the-art visa centre here with modern facilities, promising shorter waiting times for applicants. Singh inaugurated the integrated centre at Jamuna Future Park (JFP) along with his Bangladeshi counterpart Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, reports bdnews24.

Indian High Commissioner Harsh Vardhan Shringla, who was also present, told the media that "this is the largest Indian visa centre in the world and possibly the largest anywhere".

The new centre will replace the existing centres in Motijheel and Uttara from July 15. The remaining two centres in Dhaka - at Gulshan and Mirpur Road - will also be shifted to this centre, located in a spacious 18,500 square feet commercial area, by August 31. The existing e-token system for submission of visa applications will also be withdrawn from July 15.

Bangladeshis constitute one of the largest numbers of visitors from a single country to India, the report said. Last year the country issued 1.4 million visas to Bangladeshi nationals. India has 12 visa centres in Bangladesh, which is the highest number the former has in any country in the world, the report said.

India issues five-year multiple entry visas for freedom fighters, senior citizens and businessmen. On Friday, Singh tweeted that India and Bangladesh have made "notable progress in transforming our land and maritime boundaries into zones of peace and tranquillity".

12
No. of visa centres India has in Bangladesh

1.4mn
No. of visas issued to Bangladeshi nationals last year

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