Indian visa services in Canada have been suspended

Indian visa services in Canada have been suspended

India has temporarily stopped giving visas to people from Canada. A private company called BLS International, which checks visa applications from Canadians at the beginning, has mentioned that they've had to stop providing Indian visas because of some operational issues. This suspension will continue until further notice.

This news was first shared as an announcement on the BLS India Visa Application Center website. BLS is the visa application processing agency for India.

India and Canada are having a big argument on the world stage. Canada says it has believable evidence that connects people from New Delhi to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was a Sikh extremist supporting Khalistan. However, the Indian government strongly disagrees with this claim, calling it ridiculous and driven by other reasons.

It is not yet clear whether the suspension of visas is linked to that order.

A spokesperson from India's External Affairs Ministry, Arindam Bagchi, has confirmed that they have temporarily stopped providing all types of visas to Canadians. This includes e-visas and visas given to Canadians in other countries.

"Due to security concerns affecting our High Commission and consulates in Canada, they can't operate normally. As a result, they can't process visa applications for now. We will keep checking the situation regularly," explained Bagchi to reporters.

Canada hasn't shown any proof that India was involved in the murder. India's security and intelligence groups have been involved in activities in South Asia and are suspected of being behind some killings in Pakistan. However, orchestrating the murder of a Canadian citizen in Canada, a place with almost 2 million people of Indian origin, would be something that has never happened before.

Bagchi mentioned that Canada hasn't given us any detailed information on this matter. However, he also said that India is open to examining any specific information that Canada may provide in the future.