Amaravati, May 12 (PTI) The Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry Federation (AP Chambers) on Tuesday requested the state government to establish full-fledged VFS Global Visa Application Centres (VACs) in Amaravati and Visakhapatnam, owing to growing international travel and visa service requirements in the state.
In a representation to chief secretary G Sai Prasad, AP Chambers president P Bhaskara Rao highlighted that the southern state lacks a VFS global centre, despite Andhra Pradesh having a large number of international travellers.
“The Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry Federation has urged the Government of Andhra Pradesh to establish full-fledged VFS Global Visa Application Centres in Amaravati/Capital Region and Visakhapatnam to address the growing international travel and visa service requirements of the state,” said a press release from the trade body, quoting Rao.
He underscored that the state has a large number of students, NRIs, IT professionals, exporters, entrepreneurs, tourists and migrant workforce travelling regularly to countries such as the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, UAE, Singapore, Gulf countries, and Europe.
Due to the absence of full-fledged visa facilitation centres, he noted that applicants are presently forced to travel to Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, and other cities for visa processing and biometric appointments, resulting in additional expenditure and inconvenience.
Rao observed that the proposed VFS Global Centre in Visakhapatnam will not only cater to North Andhra region but also neighbouring states such as Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha.
The trade body appealed to the state government to take up the matter with the Ministry of External Affairs, concerned foreign missions and VFS Global for establishing the permanent and comprehensive visa application centres in Amaravati and Vizag at the earliest. PTI STH SA
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