Kerala-born Alhind to handle visa, passport & consular matters for Indians in UAE
Kerala-born Alhind Tours and Travels LLC will become the sole outsourced service provider for passport, visa, and consular applications for Indians across the UAE. It will replace BLS International (passport and visa services) and SGIVS Global (attestation services), which previously handled these services.
Ahead of the transition, the Indian Embassy in the UAE had announced a brief suspension of regular appointments for consular services, including passport, visa, and attestation.
Alhind is undertaking a large-scale operational overhaul to cater to the Indian community, which accounts for nearly 40 per cent of the UAE’s population, as recently reported by Khaleej Times. The company plans to launch 16 centres across the UAE, including major hubs in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Fujairah.
Alhind Tours & Travels is part of the Alhind Group, which has interests in IT software, luxury rentals, and foreign exchange, among other sectors. Founded in Kerala in 1992, the company began operations in the UAE and West Asia in 1995.
Last month, the Indian Embassy in the UAE announced that Alhind would become the sole outsourced service provider for passport, visa, and consular applications across the country from July.
BLS International has been handling passport, visa, and OCI applications for the UAE’s 4 million-plus Indian community since 2011. The transition could lead to a significant financial impact on the company, given the scale of the business, according to senior diplomatic sources.
The loss of the UAE mandate adds to broader pressure on BLS across Indian Mission outsourcing markets. The company has already lost UAE, Kuwait and Singapore in 2026, diplomatic sources pointed out. This is particularly significant given the replacement of BLS by Alhind in the UAE after more than a decade of service, according to diplomatic sources. “The company got the UAE contract in 2011 but in 15 years they did not upgrade services and did not modernise the system,” the source alleged.
Ahead of the transition, the Indian Embassy in the UAE had announced a brief suspension of regular appointments for consular services, including passport, visa, and attestation.
Alhind is undertaking a large-scale operational overhaul to cater to the Indian community, which accounts for nearly 40 per cent of the UAE’s population, as recently reported by Khaleej Times. The company plans to launch 16 centres across the UAE, including major hubs in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Fujairah.
Alhind Tours & Travels is part of the Alhind Group, which has interests in IT software, luxury rentals, and foreign exchange, among other sectors. Founded in Kerala in 1992, the company began operations in the UAE and West Asia in 1995.
Last month, the Indian Embassy in the UAE announced that Alhind would become the sole outsourced service provider for passport, visa, and consular applications across the country from July.
BLS International has been handling passport, visa, and OCI applications for the UAE’s 4 million-plus Indian community since 2011. The transition could lead to a significant financial impact on the company, given the scale of the business, according to senior diplomatic sources.
The loss of the UAE mandate adds to broader pressure on BLS across Indian Mission outsourcing markets. The company has already lost UAE, Kuwait and Singapore in 2026, diplomatic sources pointed out. This is particularly significant given the replacement of BLS by Alhind in the UAE after more than a decade of service, according to diplomatic sources. “The company got the UAE contract in 2011 but in 15 years they did not upgrade services and did not modernise the system,” the source alleged.
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