South African travellers to India will now have to go to an application centre to be fingerprinted and photographed for a visa.
Visa applicants will have to first book an appointment online.
VFS Global‚ the outsourcing and technologist services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions worldwide‚ said from July 17 biometric enrolment‚ comprising of fingerprints and facial images‚ will become mandatory as per a directive from the High Commission of India in Pretoria.
Those applying for visas via the centres in Johannesburg‚ Durban and Cape Town will have to submit the biometric data in person.
Those using the E-visas service will be fingerprinted and photographed by immigration authorities upon landing in India.
“As this process may be time-consuming‚ applicants can instead enrol biometrics in South Africa itself at the India Visa Application Centres‚ which will ease out the travel process‚” VFS Global said.