All Indian visa application centers in Bangladesh will remain closed until further notice due to the unstable situation following massive protests that led to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigning and fleeing to India earlier this week.
The Indian Visa Application Centre announced on their website that applicants would be informed of the next application date via SMS, and advised them to collect passports on the next working day: “All Indian visa application centres will remain closed till further notice, due to the unstable situation. The next application date will be informed through SMS and it is requested to pick up the passport on the next working day,” the notice read.
This announcement followed the evacuation of 190 non-essential staffers and their families from the Indian High Commission in Dhaka after the collapse of Sheikh Hasina’s government. However, all diplomats remain in Bangladesh, and the missions continue to function.
In addition to the High Commission in Dhaka, India operates assistant high commissions or consulates in Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, and Sylhet.
The protests, which began in June, were initially peaceful demonstrations against a controversial job quota system granting 30 percent reservation for families of veterans from the 1971 Liberation War. The situation turned violent after police cracked down on the protesters.
