Indian expats in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) can now get their passports renewed in two days after submitting their applications, Consul General Aman Puri said.

Also, the Indian Consulate in Dubai will accept passport applications from expats living across the UAE, irrespective of their place of residence or the emirate that issued their visas, he announced, Puri told Gulf News yesterday.

Earlier, the centres of BLS International — the outsourced service provider for Indian passport and visa applications — under the mission were only accepting passport applications from Indian expats with their visas issued from Dubai and the northern Emirates.

Now onwards, Puri said all the BLS centres in Dubai and the northern Emirates will accept passport applications from expats living or working in Abu Dhabi as well.

The passport renewal applications will be processed by the mission on the same day it receives them from the BLS centres.

Puri told the Gulf News that almost 95 per cent of the passport applications are now expected to be processed the very next day after submission.

During the pre-pandemic days, the mission used to receive about 850 passport applications daily.

Last year, the Consulate had issued more than 200,000 passports, one of the highest numbers of passport services provided by any Indian diplomatic mission in the world..