Here’s why Indian expats are being advised to visit the Embassy and Consulate for consular services.
ABU DHABI: The recent directive requiring Indian expats in the UAE to visit the Embassy and Consulate directly, without appointments, for passport and attestation services from July 2 is not a routine administrative change, Gulf News has learned.
Late on Wednesday, the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi announced revised consular service arrangements for Indian nationals in the UAE. It said that, due to administrative reasons, both the Embassy and the Indian Consulate in Dubai will provide a limited range of services — including passport, visa, attestation, and other miscellaneous services — directly from their premises starting Thursday.
According to Gulf News, the move is linked to a legal dispute in Delhi over a tender process involving the Indian Ministry of External Affairs’ overseas consular outsourcing contracts across multiple countries, which has disrupted the planned handover of service providers.
What was the planned handover?
In the UAE, home to around 4.5 million Indian expatriates, the outsourcing contracts held by BLS International — which managed Indian passport services — and SGIVS Global Services — which handled attestation services — expired on June 30, 2026.
Under a new tender issued by the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, following a series of earlier annulled bids, Alhind Tours and Travel LLC was selected as the new unified service provider. It was expected to operate through Indian Consular Application Centres (ICACs) and take over services from July 1.
It was intended to be a seamless transition with no disruption in consular services for the UAE’s roughly 4.5 million Indian expatriates, as well as visa services for foreign nationals travelling to India from the UAE.
What went wrong in between?
The plan became entangled in legal proceedings before the Delhi High Court, with related matters also reaching the Supreme Court.
Two companies — E Trav Tech and Verasys — challenged the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi’s evaluation process for the UAE contract, specifically the technical qualification criteria under the Request for Proposal (RFP).
What did the petitioners seek?
The petitioners requested a detailed breakdown of the marks awarded during the technical evaluation, along with the reasons for their disqualification, arguing that this information had not been shared with them.
They initially objected to the tender conditions but later limited their challenge to two specific requests.
What did the court observe?
The Delhi High Court largely upheld the government’s discretion in evaluating tenders and rejected the request for a detailed breakdown of marks at that stage.
However, it also held that bidders who are disqualified are entitled to be informed of the reasons for their rejection.
The court further noted that while the RFP requires such disclosure, it does not specify a timeline for when those reasons must be communicated.
How did the case reach the Supreme Court?
Unhappy with the Delhi High Court’s decision, E Trav Tech escalated the matter to the Supreme Court.
On June 24, the apex court did not go into the merits of the case but ordered status quo, directing that the existing position be maintained until the dispute is resolved.
It also instructed the Delhi High Court to hear the matter on an urgent basis.
What happened in the High Court later?
Following the Supreme Court’s direction, the Delhi High Court resumed hearing the case on June 29, moving the matter forward in stages.
The court decided to club all related petitions together and list them for a priority hearing on July 1.
That hearing was then adjourned and pushed to July 2.
As matters stand, no interim relief has been granted, and the case has not yet been decided on its merits.
Who got stuck in the middle?
With the previous contracts having expired, BLS International and SGIVS Global Services have ceased operations for applicants.
However, with Alhind unable to formally take charge due to the status quo order, Indian missions in the UAE are currently without an outsourced service provider.
As a result, the missions have introduced walk-in arrangements from July 2, citing “administrative reasons” for the temporary shift.
The dispute originated from an administrative decision by the Embassy regarding technical bid evaluation in the tender process — the very process that E Trav Tech and Verasys later challenged.
In effect, an administrative decision on bid scoring and disclosure has now led to a temporary disruption in consular services on the ground.
The missions in the UAE handle a significant volume of consular work, processing over 1.58 million services and transactions between January 2022 and December 2024—about 1,760 transactions per working day. This includes more than 364,000 passport-related services in 2024 alone.
What is the stopgap in the UAE?
As announced on Wednesday, the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Consulate in Dubai are temporarily providing passport, visa, attestation, and other consular services directly from their own premises starting Thursday, July 2.
The arrangement is strictly walk-in and first-come, first-served, operating between 9am and 12:30pm.
Applicants are required to carry completed forms and full documentation. Only the applicant is permitted inside, with exceptions for parents accompanying minors. Fees are accepted in cash only, at the revised rates effective from July 1.
What will happen now
The missions have described the current in-house arrangement as temporary and said further updates on the transition to the new service provider, Alhind Tours and Travel LLC, will be issued in due course.
This depends on clarity emerging from the ongoing legal proceedings in Delhi, and it remains uncertain when that will happen.
Until the Delhi High Court decides on interim relief—and potentially the broader merits of the case—Alhind’s takeover of the Indian Consular Application Centres in the UAE will remain on hold. In the meantime, embassy and consulate staff will continue handling the services directly.
Meanwhile, BLS International and SGIVS Global Services have kept their offices and workforce in place without changes, maintaining operational readiness in case the court outcome allows them to resume services, given the Supreme Court’s status quo order.
