VFS Global has secured a worldwide outsourcing contract from Slovakia’s Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs that will see the company operate 159 visa application centres across 83 countries—including India—over the next five years.
For Indian business and leisure travellers the contract will be immediately visible: 87 new centres are slated to open in January 2026, bringing Slovak Schengen (short-stay) and national (long-stay) visa services to tier-two cities that previously lacked coverage. The expansion is expected to cut appointment backlogs that stretched to six weeks in Mumbai and New Delhi during the 2025 summer peak.
![VFS Global wins 5-year mandate to process Slovak visas in India and 82 other countries]()
Under the deal VFS will handle application intake, biometrics, document verification and optional premium add-ons such as language translation and courier return; final decisions remain with the Slovak Embassy in New Delhi or other Schengen authorities. The outsourcing is part of Bratislava’s tourism-boost strategy after the country logged a 3.9 percent rise to 2.16 million foreign visitors last year, with India singled out as a high-growth market.
Corporate mobility teams welcome the move because it standardises processes for engineers and IT consultants deployed to Slovakia’s growing automotive and R&D clusters. However, HR managers should note that long-stay work-permit quotas and labour-market tests remain unchanged—outsourcing speeds administration but not approval itself.
VFS Global, headquartered in Zurich and Dubai, now serves 69 governments and has processed more than half a billion visa transactions since 2001. The Slovak win reinforces its dominance in Central-European outsourcing following recent renewals with the Czech Republic and Hungary.
For Indian business and leisure travellers the contract will be immediately visible: 87 new centres are slated to open in January 2026, bringing Slovak Schengen (short-stay) and national (long-stay) visa services to tier-two cities that previously lacked coverage. The expansion is expected to cut appointment backlogs that stretched to six weeks in Mumbai and New Delhi during the 2025 summer peak.
Under the deal VFS will handle application intake, biometrics, document verification and optional premium add-ons such as language translation and courier return; final decisions remain with the Slovak Embassy in New Delhi or other Schengen authorities. The outsourcing is part of Bratislava’s tourism-boost strategy after the country logged a 3.9 percent rise to 2.16 million foreign visitors last year, with India singled out as a high-growth market.
Corporate mobility teams welcome the move because it standardises processes for engineers and IT consultants deployed to Slovakia’s growing automotive and R&D clusters. However, HR managers should note that long-stay work-permit quotas and labour-market tests remain unchanged—outsourcing speeds administration but not approval itself.
VFS Global, headquartered in Zurich and Dubai, now serves 69 governments and has processed more than half a billion visa transactions since 2001. The Slovak win reinforces its dominance in Central-European outsourcing following recent renewals with the Czech Republic and Hungary.
