India has taken another step to bring government services closer to its 5-million-strong diaspora in the United States by opening an Indian Consular Application Centre (ICAC) in Los Angeles. Operated by outsourcing specialist VFS Global, the facility became operational on 15 December and was formally announced by the Consulate General of India on 24 December 2025. The addition raises the network of ICACs in the U.S. to 17, capping a rapid roll-out that has seen eight centres inaugurated since August in Boston, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Edison, Orlando, Raleigh and San Jose.
The LA centre offers a one-stop counter for passports, Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) cards, Indian visas, renunciation of citizenship certificates, Global Entry Programme enrolment, police-clearance certificates and diverse attestations. According to VFS Global, return courier is now built into the standard fee, and value-added services such as photographs and form-filling are provided on-site at no extra cost, aiming to cut down repeat visits and incomplete applications.
While the Los Angeles ICAC streamlines walk-in services, travellers who prefer a completely online route can turn to platforms like VisaHQ for assistance. VisaHQ guides users through Indian visa, passport and OCI procedures, offers document pre-checks, arranges secure courier pick-ups and tracks applications end-to-end—all from a single dashboard. For details, see https://www.visahq.com/india/.
![India Expands Consular Reach In U.S. With New Los Angeles Application Centre]()
The Indian mission notes that consular volumes in the U.S. have risen sharply in 2025, driven by record travel demand and pent-up OCI renewals after pandemic-era backlogs. VFS Global processed 363,842 applications up to mid-November, with overall traffic expected to approach half a million by year-end. To keep pace, the company says it has expanded weekend hours, reinforced staffing and introduced biometric enrolment and AI-assisted appointment scheduling to bring average wait times for passports and OCI cards down to “a few working days.”
For global-mobility and HR teams, the new Los Angeles hub is significant because California is home to the largest concentration of Indian professionals on H-1B and L-1 visas. Being able to lodge surrender-certificate or passport-renewal applications locally minimises project delays, while the on-site Global Entry desk helps executives maintain Trusted Traveller status for faster re-entry into the U.S. Companies with rotating staff can now plan assignment timelines with greater certainty and lower travel costs.
Looking ahead, New Delhi is expected to replicate the model in other high-density diaspora markets such as the UAE and the UK. Officials have hinted that, once electronic authentication rules are finalised in early 2026, OCI renewals could move entirely online, leaving ICACs to focus on biometrics and exceptional-case interviews—a development that would further streamline mobility for Indian citizens abroad.
The LA centre offers a one-stop counter for passports, Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) cards, Indian visas, renunciation of citizenship certificates, Global Entry Programme enrolment, police-clearance certificates and diverse attestations. According to VFS Global, return courier is now built into the standard fee, and value-added services such as photographs and form-filling are provided on-site at no extra cost, aiming to cut down repeat visits and incomplete applications.
While the Los Angeles ICAC streamlines walk-in services, travellers who prefer a completely online route can turn to platforms like VisaHQ for assistance. VisaHQ guides users through Indian visa, passport and OCI procedures, offers document pre-checks, arranges secure courier pick-ups and tracks applications end-to-end—all from a single dashboard. For details, see https://www.visahq.com/india/.
The Indian mission notes that consular volumes in the U.S. have risen sharply in 2025, driven by record travel demand and pent-up OCI renewals after pandemic-era backlogs. VFS Global processed 363,842 applications up to mid-November, with overall traffic expected to approach half a million by year-end. To keep pace, the company says it has expanded weekend hours, reinforced staffing and introduced biometric enrolment and AI-assisted appointment scheduling to bring average wait times for passports and OCI cards down to “a few working days.”
For global-mobility and HR teams, the new Los Angeles hub is significant because California is home to the largest concentration of Indian professionals on H-1B and L-1 visas. Being able to lodge surrender-certificate or passport-renewal applications locally minimises project delays, while the on-site Global Entry desk helps executives maintain Trusted Traveller status for faster re-entry into the U.S. Companies with rotating staff can now plan assignment timelines with greater certainty and lower travel costs.
Looking ahead, New Delhi is expected to replicate the model in other high-density diaspora markets such as the UAE and the UK. Officials have hinted that, once electronic authentication rules are finalised in early 2026, OCI renewals could move entirely online, leaving ICACs to focus on biometrics and exceptional-case interviews—a development that would further streamline mobility for Indian citizens abroad.
