Four Indian Passport Centres in UAE Close Permanently; Collections Redirected to New Locations
Details of the Closure
Alhind, the temporary outsourced service provider for the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Indian Consulate in Dubai, has issued a fresh advisory confirming the permanent closure of the four centres. The Embassy had announced on Wednesday that the centres would cease operations from 22 October.
Consular, passport, visa and attestation services continue at 12 centres across the UAE. However, this change affects only the collection of processed passports from the closed sites.
New Collection Points
Applicants with pending passports at the Dubai Investment Park (DIP) centre in Dubai or the Al Majaz centre in Sharjah must now collect them from UW Mall in Bur Dubai. Those whose passports are at the Musaffah or Al Reem centres in Abu Dhabi should go to the Al Danah Centre instead.
Alhind had previously announced a partial arrangement that kept passport delivery counters open at three of the four centres (DIP, Al Majaz and Musaffah) while submission counters remained closed. Passports from Al Reem were already being handed over at Al Danah. The latest advisory now lists all four as fully closed and ends the partial arrangement.
The company apologised for any inconvenience and thanked applicants for their understanding and cooperation.
Broader Service Restructure
These closures come amid a wider restructuring of how Indian passport, visa and consular services are run in the UAE. As first reported by Gulf News, the Embassy issued a fresh request for proposal (RFP) on 28 September, inviting bids for outsourcing consular, passport and visa services at both Indian missions. This followed a court-ordered reset of the earlier process for the ICACs, which are currently run by Alhind.
Under the RFP, the contract is due to be awarded on 27 November. Whether Alhind continues to provide the services depends on whether it wins the new bid. Applicants are advised to check official public announcements for updates on passport collection arrangements and service-centre operations.
