India's consular services in Australia reopen after Delhi court voids the tender
A Delhi High Court ruling voided the tender for India's outsourced consular services in Australia, but let them keep running — and passport and visa services resumed on 23 July across six upgraded centres, from Sydney to Perth.
Indians in Australia can once again renew a passport or lodge a visa application through official centres — after a court in Delhi threw out the contract that was meant to run them.
In a judgment delivered on 15 July 2026, the Delhi High Court set aside the tender through which the Ministry of External Affairs had outsourced Indian consular, passport and visa services in Australia and Singapore, finding the technical evaluation of bids arbitrary and lacking transparency. The bench ordered the ministry to issue a fresh request for proposals within a month — but, to avoid stranding applicants, allowed the existing provider to keep operating in the meantime.
That interim arrangement is what has kept the counters open. Services, which had been disrupted from early July as the legal fight played out, resumed on 23 July 2026, with the High Commission of India in Canberra launching six upgraded Indian Consular Application Centres — in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney — open on weekdays.
The stakes are not small. Australia is home to one of the fastest-growing Indian communities in the world, with well over a million people of Indian origin, and demand for passport renewals, OCI services and visas is constant. A prolonged shutdown of consular services would have left thousands unable to travel, work or prove their status.
For now, the centres run under the court-permitted interim arrangement while the ministry re-runs the tender. Applicants should use the official High Commission channels and the new centres rather than any unofficial intermediary, and allow extra time until the process settles.
A short news summary of reporting from the sources linked above; original reporting belongs to them.
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