Indian visa outsourcing firm faces action in Estonia

By Ashoke Raj
New Delhi [India], December 6 : BLS International, an Indian company working in the visa outsourcing sector, is facing charges of a breach in Estonia's e-residency mandate awarded by the European country's Ministry of Interiors.
E-Residency documents are issued by Estonia's foreign affairs administration, but in 2021, the state began issuing e-Residency cards in Tokyo, Bangkok, Singapore, Sao Paulo and Johannesburg via a third-party partner, BLS International Services Limited.
However, a few months back the Estonia's Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) discovered two significant cases of breach involving BLS International.
The PPA identified an infringement in Bangkok where an individual unauthorised by it issued documents to an e-resident. The same breach of procedures has occurred at BLS issuing locations in other foreign soils as well which prompted the Ministry of the Interior to terminate its contract with the said company.
However, the BLS International spokesperson told ANI, "The matter is sub judice. We do not wish to comment on it until then."
Sources in the company further told ANI, "The contract was discontinued due to unlawful conduct of certain errant employees - a factor beyond the control of BLS. The conduct of such employees were not systemic but BLS had to face the brunt, but it did not encourage or partake in the said unlawful actions."
According to the company official, "BLS managament has taken Disciplinary action against the errant employees as per the employment agreement."
Meanwhile, it is learnt the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in India recently awarded the outsourcing of consular services that comprises passports, visas, Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI), police clearance, surrender Certificate (Renunciation of Indian Citizenship), verification and Miscellaneous Attestation Services in Canada to BLS International.