Getting visas for the UK has become convenient and applicants can now seek the document from the comfort of their homes or offices.
VFS Global, in partnership with UK Visas, today launched 'On Demand Mobile Visa' service for applicants in India.
Through this service, applicants located anywhere in India and applying for visas to the UK, can complete the relevant application and enrol biometric data from their homes or offices, VFS Global said in a release here.
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VFS Global is an outsourcing and technology services firm that handles visa issuance job for several countries.
The on-demand service can be delivered on request at the applicant's residence, office, or any location of their choice (subject to risk assessment).
The service is mainly aimed at large groups of people travelling to the UK such as corporate employees or film production unit members, who do not wish to travel to visa application centres for this purpose.
The service is available by appointment only - on a day of choice, including weekends, and charged separately.
VFS Global has also launched 'Home to Home (H2H)' - a personalised facility that provides chauffeur services and end-to-end assistance with form-filling and submission for UK visa applicants.
This is specifically aimed at out-of-town applicants, who may have to travel to certain cities for their visa application.
At the event, Mehta launched a survey on medical value
travel and released an ICRIER report on "institutional framework for collection of statistics on trade in services: four pilot surveys on trade in audio-visual, logistics, professional and telecommunication services".
The report said an efficient, predictable and transparent framework for collection of statistics on trade in services is required to understand the trade flows between India and its trading partners and also know the strength in exports in different sub-sectors of services.
It would also provide insights to the government and help in identifying key areas in trade negotiations.
In spite of the substantial contribution of the services sector to the Indian economy, the country does not have a robust system for collection of data on trade in services.
The report has highlighted the need for a strong regulatory framework for such data collection and suggested that care should be taken to ensure confidentiality of information.
"A new approach towards collection of data on trade in services may place the responsibility on the service provider to submit or file information and data within a prescribed time period in line with those followed under the Companies Act 2013 or the Income Tax Act, 1961," it said.
It also recommended that the penalty for non-reporting or mis-reporting should be in line with global practices and asked for setting up of a committee on 'collection of data on trade in services' under the chairmanship of the commerce secretary.
"This committee should have representation from different ministries and departments, industry associations, regulatory and professional bodies and trade promotion bodies to sensitise them about trade in services data collection," it said.
It also said there is a need for a unique identification number for services exporters and importers and a provision for allotment of importer exporter code for service providers will help in building a robust business directory.
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When asked about the proposal for relaxing the visa norms, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that several issues relating with visa have been coming up as an "irritant".
Citing examples, she said periodically issues related with medical tourism, short term business visa, multiple entry visas and multiple entries visas for tourists are becoming a technical issue so "so we want to put a common approach of how to handle these many varieties of visas".
She said that India has extended a liberaslised regime of trade for least developed countries (LDCs) and they want to come here and understand the issues.
She said that so far no draft cabinet note has been moved on the issue but an inter-ministerial discussion is going on with ministries including the Home Affairs Ministry.
