Australian visa centre opens in Jalandhar
Saturday, 05/07/2014
http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=109583&boxid=58964&uid=&dat=2014-07-05
Jalandhar : The Australian Government has moved to meet a growing demand in Punjab for visas to Australia by opening a brand new Visa Application Centre (VAC) in Jalandhar, operated by its commercial partner, VFS Global.
Jose Alvarez, the Australian Government’s Minister Counselor for Immigration and Regional Director (South Asia) inaugurated the centre on July 3.
Australia’s High Commissioner to India, Patrick Suckling, welcomed the new facility and said that the centre would make it much more convenient for people in the region to apply for visas to Australia. He said “The flow of people between India and Australia is increasing in volume, and this is deepening and strengthening the bonds between our two countries,”
“I am confident Australia would continue to receive increased number of business visitors, tourists, skilled migrants and students from India, which will continue to benefit our bilateral relationship,” he added. Vishal Jairath, Regional Head- South Asia, VFS Global, was also present and said“VFS Global is privileged to partner with the Government of Australia to open a new Visa Application Centre in Jalandhar. This will enhance the visa application experience of travellers to Australia from Punjab.” He said that VFS Global has been associated with the Government of Australia in India since 2007, and this extension would go a long way in forging a longstanding partnership. It is pertinent to mention here that for the first time in its history, the Australian High Commission in New Delhi issued more than 100,000 tourism visas to Indians in a single financial year (1 July 2013 to 30 June 2014), with numbers increasing by 10 percent in the first three months this year.
The new and upgraded VACs will offer dedicated counters for applicants and tour operators, video-conferencing facility for interviews, SMS service for tracking application status , 100% secure handling of passports, documents and personal information, professional and responsive staff with local language capability dedicated to handle visa queries and applications, and facilities for “witnessing” copies of original passports and documents, as well as other facilities.
