AP Chambers Pushes for Full-Fledged Visa Centres in Andhra Pradesh

As thousands of people from Andhra Pradesh continue to travel abroad every year for education , employment and business , the demand for accessible visa services within the state has been growing rapidly. In this backdrop, the Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry Federation ( AP Chambers ) has urged the state government to establish VFS Global Visa Application Centres in Amaravati and Visakhapatnam .

A delegation from AP Chambers submitted a memorandum to Chief Secretary G. Sai Prasad, stressing the need for full-fledged visa and biometric facilities in Andhra Pradesh.

AP Chambers president P. Bhaskara Rao said applicants are currently forced to travel to Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and New Delhi for visa processing and biometric appointments due to the absence of a VFS Global centre in the state. This, he said, is causing unnecessary travel expenses, delays and inconvenience.

He noted that students , IT professionals, NRIs, businesspersons, exporters and migrant workers frequently travel to countries including the US, UK, Canada, Australia, UAE and several European and Gulf nations.

Bhaskara Rao added that setting up a visa application centre in Visakhapatnam would benefit not only people from North Andhra but also applicants from neighbouring states such as Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

The federation appealed to the state government to coordinate with the Ministry of External Affairs , foreign embassies and VFS Global authorities to speed up the establishment of permanent visa application centres in Amaravati and Visakhapatnam.