As the 2nd wave of the pandemic in India continues on its declining trend, many countries are slowly re-opening their embassies to process visa applications for Indian nationals. Here is a summary of the countries that have resumed operations.

Germany, France, Switzerland and Spain have resumed processing short stay visa applications for Indian nationals who have been fully vaccinated with both doses of Covishield. At the time of visa application, the embassy / consulate requires the vaccination certificate of the visa applicant which must clearly show the vaccination details like applicant name, valid passport number mentioned on the certificate, date of vaccination and the official symbol or name of the issuer of the certificate.

Submission of the visa application for Western India applicants must be done by prior appointment only at the following cities in Western India where applications are currently being accepted:

• Germany: Visa applications are accepted in Mumbai VFS only from Monday to Friday
• France: Visa applications are accepted in Mumbai VFS from Monday to Friday and Pune VFS on Monday and Wednesday
• Switzerland: Visa applications are accepted in Mumbai VFS on Monday, Wednesday & Friday
• Spain: Visa applications are accepted in Mumbai BLS International from Monday to Friday starting 16th August

Additional Information:

France: It has been mandated by the Embassy of France, New Delhi to provide biometrics each time if the applicants are applying from the New Delhi Visa application Centre.

Switzerland: India has been removed from Switzerland's list of countries with a Covid-19 variant of concern. For more details please click here

To know which COVID-19 related measures apply to you when entering Switzerland, please click here

All categories of visas are now open for Indian nationals to apply. This follows the decision of the UK government to move India from the from the ‘red’ to the ‘amber’ list from Sunday 8th August.

Important Note: UK only recognises vaccines administered in the UK, EMA and the USA for waiver of the 10-day quarantine period for fully vaccinated travellers. So unfortunately, Indians travelling to the UK will have to undergo the mandatory 10-day quarantine period even if they are fully vaccinated. The only difference is that they do not have to undergo institutional quarantine and can quarantine at home / place of stay.

For the summary of travel protocols required before travelling to and on arrival in the UK, please refer to our August 1.0 Travel Updates newsletter

UAE is now allowing all passengers with a valid UAE residence visa from five countries including India to travel to the UAE subject to below conditions:

• Dubai visa holders must apply for pre entry approval through General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA)
• Passengers must have a valid COVID 19 test certificate issued within 48 hours between the time of sample collection and scheduled flight departure only COVID 19 PCR test reports from certified labs that issue a QR code linked to the original report will be accepted
• Passengers must complete a COVID 19 PCR rapid test 4 hours before the departure of their flight (Rapid antigen test will not be accepted)
• Passengers must complete a COVID 19 PCR test on arrival in Dubai.

Dubai continues to ban other category of travellers from India. All other category of travellers have to spend 14 days outside India to be permitted to enter Dubai.

Transit passengers:

Must complete all the requirements of their final destination and present a negative COVID 19 PCR test certificate taken 72 hours or less before departure or as required by their final destination. Only COVID 19 PCR test reports from certified labs that issue a QR code linked to the original report will be accepted.

Below is the updated list of the countries and the visa categories for which visa applications can now being processed in India: