Lithuania enters VFS fold

VFS Global has rolled out Lithuania visa services in New Delhi to cater to travellers from India visiting the European country. Along with Delhi, the services are available in Mumbai and Bengaluru.

Manas Dwivedi

Julius Pranevicius, Ambassador of Lithuania to India and Giedrius KaXakevicius, Director of the Consular Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lithuania, formally inaugurated the new Lithuania Visa Application Centre in the capital. Along with Delhi, the services are now available in two other cities, Mumbai and Bengaluru. The authorities expect to extend the services to 10 Indian cities by the end of 2019. India is now among 71 countries in which VFS Global offers Lithuania visa services, owing to its growing popularity among travellers globally.

We see huge interest from different sectors of the Indian society, students in particular, to visit Lithuania

Sharing his happiness during the occasion, Pranevicius said, “The newly opened centres will facilitate the process by bringing the service closer to a customer, contribute to building stronger people-to-people contacts, as well as strengthening bilateral relations between Lithuania and India through tourism, trade and culture. We have some historical and cultural ties with India as our language happens to be very similar to Sanskrit. It’s not only about history and culture, today, we see huge interest from different sectors of the Indian society to visit Lithuania. Stu- dents, in particular, take great interest in studying in the universities of Lithuania with around 1,000 Indian students already studying there. People like living there and price-wise also, it is comparable to other European countries. We also see interest from Indian tourists and Indian business companies looking to enter the European market using Lithuania as their gateway. We are looking forward to productive cooperation between the Embassy of Lithuania and VFS Global.”

Vinay Malhotra, Regional Group COO – South Asia, Middle East and China, VFS Global, said, “Globally, we have had a long and fruitful association with the Republic of Lithuania, having served the embassies and consulates in multiple other countries since 2013. We are extremely pleased that Lithuania has extended its reach to include one of the fastest growing outbound markets – India.”

The Visa Application Centre in New Delhi is equipped to accept all categories of Schengen visas for Lithuania, as well as biometric enrollment.