Visa application centres in Mumbai

Before your appointment in Mumbai

1. 1Look up your country’s building before you leave home: France, Belgium, Hungary, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and New Zealand are at BKC, while Germany, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands and Switzerland are at Mahalaxmi.
2. 2For the UK or Ireland, read the booking to see whether it names Mumbai North (Trade Centre, BKC) or Mumbai South (Urmi Axis, Mahalaxmi).
3. 3For Spain, book on the BLS site, and if you are submitting less than 15 days before travel, sign the “Declaration – Short Processing Time” and add it to the file.
4. 4For Denmark, Norway or Finland, finish the online application on applyvisa.um.dk, Application Portal Norway or finlandvisa.fi before you go to the centre.
5. 5Keep a Polish application away from travel agents: Poland’s VFS note says submission through them is not allowed.
6. 6Print the flight reservation and hotel booking only after checking them, and match their dates to your form, cover letter and insurance.

Which Mumbai building handles which country

Mumbai’s centres are spread over two VFS buildings and two other addresses, and inside Urmi Axis each floor belongs to a different group of missions. Check the building and the floor on your appointment letter.

• Urmi Axis, 1st floor: UK (Mumbai South), Ireland (Mumbai South) and Italy, whose only Mumbai centre is this one.
• Urmi Axis, 2nd floor: the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Portugal, Czechia, Poland and Finland.
• Urmi Axis, 3rd floor: Germany, Japan, South Korea, the UAE (Dubai visas) and South Africa.
• Urmi Axis, 4th floor: Canada through VFS, and Greece through GVCW, which has its own booking site.
• Trade Centre, G Block, BKC, 1st floor: UK and Ireland (Mumbai North), France, Belgium, Hungary, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and New Zealand.
• Dalamal Towers, Nariman Point: Spain, through BLS International.
• C-49, G-Block, BKC: the US Consulate General, for visa interviews.

Getting to Mahalaxmi, BKC and Nariman Point

The Urmi Axis address is given by its metro exit: “Near MMRC Science Centre Exit A4”, opposite E Moses Road in Mahalaxmi (West). GVCW’s page for Greece adds “Behind Famous Studio”, a second landmark for the same building. Coming by metro, leave the station by exit A4.

Trade Centre stands in G Block of Bandra Kurla Complex, the office district in Bandra (East), and the US Consulate General is in the same G Block at C-49. A Mahalaxmi slot and a BKC slot are different journeys, so follow the address on your confirmation.

Spain’s BLS centre is in South Mumbai, in units G1 to G8 on the ground floor of Dalamal Towers, 211 Nariman Point, well away from both VFS buildings.

Which consulate decides a Mumbai file

For a Maharashtra resident, many decisions are taken in the city itself. The Consulates General in Mumbai decide French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Belgian and Hungarian visas for the state, and VFS takes Korean files as the designated agent of the Korean consulate here. Germany goes further: every German Schengen file submitted anywhere in India is forwarded to its Mumbai consulate, and a German Schengen slot can be booked at any Indian centre whatever your address. National D visas are not covered by that freedom.

Some files leave the city. Dutch, Swiss and Czech applications are decided in New Delhi. Portugal publishes separate checklists for its Embassy in New Delhi and its Consulate General in Goa, and which one covers Maharashtra could not be confirmed, so read the jurisdiction note on the VFS Portugal page before printing.

The Mumbai consulates also reach beyond Maharashtra. France’s covers Goa, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Italy’s adds Kerala, and Spain’s extends south to Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana. A French file handed in at Ahmedabad or Panaji, or an Italian one handed in at Kochi, is decided here.

Who applies in Mumbai

The applicants are as varied as the city: executives flying to meetings and trade fairs in Germany, France or Switzerland, families visiting relatives in the UK, Canada and New Zealand, students heading to Ireland or the UK, and seafarers travelling to join ships abroad.

Seafarers should use a crew or seafarer checklist where the country publishes one, since a ship-joining file is built around the contract, the seaman’s book and the shipping agent’s letter rather than a holiday plan. Business applicants usually need an invitation from the host company and a cover letter from their own employer.

Countries Mumbai cannot take, and the special cases

Almost every common destination has a desk in Mumbai, but a few work differently.

• Australia: no Australian biometrics collection centre exists in India, so there is no Mumbai appointment to book for it.
• Singapore: VFS has no Singapore centre in Mumbai, and the Consulate General says only its Authorised Visa Agents may make the online submission.
• United States: the consulate address in BKC is confirmed, but the biometrics centre (OFC) address could not be, so take it from your own appointment confirmation.
• UAE: the VFS desk on the 3rd floor of Urmi Axis is a Dubai visa service for tourist and transit visas only, for travellers entering and leaving through Dubai airport. It does not handle work or residence visas.
• Greece: GVCW, not VFS, is Greece’s provider, with its own appointment system and a desk on the 4th floor of Urmi Axis.
• New Zealand: the BKC centre is one of only three open in India, with Chandigarh and New Delhi; the others are temporarily closed.

Timing your flight reservation and hotel booking for a Mumbai slot

Timing matters more than anything else about the reservation. The airline holding the seat decides how long an unpaid booking stays open, and that is different for every airline. Order it for the day of your BKC or Mahalaxmi appointment, or the evening before an early one, and check every name on it as soon as it arrives.

Germany’s checklist says “A booked flight ticket does not result in a preferred processing of the application”, so a fare bought before the decision gains nothing.

Where a checklist asks for proof of accommodation, add a confirmed hotel booking: a reservation with the property showing your dates and guest names, though our fee does not pay for the stay. A flight reservation cannot be used to fly, and an airline PDF edited to show a booking that was never made is document fraud.

Visa centres in Mumbai

Mumbai questions, answered