- VFS Global opened Odisha’s first visa application centre in Bhubaneswar on April 1, 2026, at Barmunda.
- The new facility processes visas for 10 countries, including the UK, Japan, and several European nations.
- Locals no longer need to travel to Kolkata for international travel paperwork and document verification.
(BHUBANESWAR, ODISHA, INDIA) — VFS Global opened Odisha’s first visa application centre in Bhubaneswar on April 1, 2026, widening its presence in eastern India and giving travelers in the state a local place to file applications instead of going to Kolkata.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi inaugurated the new visa application centre at the Baba Saheb Ambedkar Bus Terminal in Barmunda, where the company has set up a 3,000-square-foot facility inside one of the city’s busiest transport points.
The launch gives Bhubaneswar a new role in outbound travel processing, with the centre starting work on visa applications for 10 countries: United Kingdom, Ireland, Austria, Estonia, Italy, Malta, Switzerland, Japan, Morocco, and Egypt.
VFS Global said the centre would begin with that initial group of countries and then move through phased expansion based on demand and approvals.
Positioning the visa application centre inside the Baba Saheb Ambedkar Bus Terminal places it in an 11-acre transit hub that handles over 1,500 buses and 20,000 passengers daily.
That setting ties the new operation to a location already used by large numbers of people moving through the city every day, making the Bhubaneswar site both a transport node and a new point for international travel paperwork.
For applicants in Odisha, the centre is intended to reduce the need to travel to Kolkata for visa-related appointments and submissions, a step that VFS Global described as part of a broader push to expand services in eastern India.
The move also responds to rising demand from Odisha and nearby regions, adding processing capacity in a part of India where the company sees more need for local access.
In its first phase, the Bhubaneswar centre will handle applications tied to a varied set of destinations across Europe, North Africa and Asia, as well as the United Kingdom and Ireland.
That opening scope gives applicants from Odisha access to processing for tourism, business or other travel categories linked to those countries through a local visa application centre rather than a longer inter-city journey.
Alongside visa submissions, the new facility offers value-added services that include application form assistance, document verification and travel insurance support.
Those services are aimed at streamlining the process for applicants, especially first-time travelers, by helping them prepare paperwork and move through requirements at one location.
For many applicants, that matters. Visa processing often depends on forms being completed correctly and documents being checked before submission, and the Bhubaneswar centre has been structured to provide that front-end support as part of its service model.
Majhi framed the opening as a response to a longstanding request from the state.
“There was a long-standing need for a visa application centre in the state. We requested the Centre to facilitate this, and we are grateful for the support extended under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Such initiatives enhance ease of travel, promote industries and tourism, and support international engagement,” Majhi said at the inauguration.
His remarks linked the launch not only to convenience for travelers but also to wider economic and institutional goals, including tourism, industry and ties beyond India.
That political message sat alongside the practical change created by the centre’s opening: people in Odisha now have a local office for applications that previously required travel outside the state.
The Bhubaneswar launch also fits into VFS Global’s larger international scale. The company is headquartered in Dubai and operates in 147 countries.
In 2024, it processed over 100,000 applications daily, placing the new Odisha facility within a much larger global network of visa processing operations.
That global footprint helps explain why the company is expanding city by city inside India, where access to visa services can hinge as much on geography as on demand.
In eastern India, the Bhubaneswar opening gives VFS Global another base in a region where travelers have often depended on services in larger neighboring metros.
The choice of Barmunda adds another layer to that strategy. A facility located inside a transport hub can serve applicants from Bhubaneswar and also those arriving from other parts of Odisha through the bus network.
With over 1,500 buses and 20,000 passengers moving through the bus terminal daily, the site already functions as a central point of movement, which aligns with the company’s attempt to place travel documentation services where footfall is high.
The centre’s 3,000 square feet marks a dedicated local presence rather than a small outreach desk, giving the operation room for intake and applicant support services as it starts with its initial country list.
Even in that initial phase, the range of countries involved is broad. The centre covers the United Kingdom and Ireland, several European countries including Austria, Estonia, Italy, Malta and Switzerland, Japan in East Asia, and Morocco and Egypt in North Africa.
VFS Global said future additions would come in phases, with demand and approvals guiding expansion beyond the first 10 countries.
That leaves room for the Bhubaneswar visa application centre to grow over time if more governments and applicant volumes support a larger operation.
The opening also reflects a pattern in travel processing: companies and governments are trying to bring submission centres closer to where applicants live, especially in states that have strong education, business, tourism or family travel links abroad.
In Odisha, that local access had been missing, which is why Majhi described the centre as a longstanding need.
His comments also placed the development within the support extended under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, giving the inauguration both administrative and political weight.
For residents of Bhubaneswar and surrounding districts, however, the most immediate change is more direct. A visa application centre now operates in the state capital, in a familiar public transport corridor, with support services built around the application process.
That can ease one of the most time-consuming parts of international travel preparation, especially for first-time travelers who may need help with forms, supporting papers and related services such as travel insurance.
The launch is also part of VFS Global’s effort to deepen its footprint in India through city-level expansion rather than relying only on older, larger centres.
By adding Bhubaneswar, the company strengthens its eastern India network while responding to a practical issue that applicants in Odisha had faced for years: the need to travel to Kolkata for services now available closer to home.
For the state government, the opening carries a broader message about connectivity. Majhi’s remarks tied easier travel to promotion of industries and tourism, suggesting that better access to international mobility services can feed into investment and people-to-people links.
For VFS Global, the new centre adds another point in a worldwide system that handled over 100,000 applications daily in 2024 and spans 147 countries.
For applicants, the change is more immediate and more local. Bhubaneswar now has Odisha’s first visa application centre, operating from the Baba Saheb Ambedkar Bus Terminal in Barmunda, where a service long sought in the state has finally opened its doors.
