This calendar year, the number of visa applications submitted in India is anticipated to surpass pre-pandemic 2019 levels. This is despite the ongoing shortage for two popular destinations, the US and Schengen countries, which have exorbitant airfares, lengthy interview wait times, and appointment count caps, respectively.
According to VFS Global, which handles visa applications for more than 50 countries, it handled well over 30 lakh visa applications in India between January and June 2023 as opposed to 60 lakh in 2019, which had not encountered any of the present issues. In fact, 2023 is on track to break the record set in 2019 for visa applications in India.
By the end of this year, we anticipate that the number of visa applications will surpass pre-pandemic levels. Outbound travel attitudes have experienced a significant resurgence. There is a demand-supply mismatch despite initial suspicion, according to Prabuddha Sen, COO of VFS Global (South Asia). After the global liberalisation of borders in 2021–2022, international airfares have remained stable. It is usual to discover that a fare that was originally the return fare is now only the one-way pricing. The demand has returned despite the squeeze.
