Well yes - what they're telling you in bureaucratic language is: it's hypothetically possible but if you do this and you have any problems whatsoever, it's your problem, and they're not making any guarantees. And that includes that it might take longer than you think. (Complicated by the fact that the visa application centres never seem entirely certain how to handle such cases and they'll kick the can over to the embassy/consulate, from which it may be difficult to get an answer)I got a reply from the New Delhi embassy as follows,
“
Clients may choose to travel to another VAC in India or another country, although travel is not recommended during a global pandemic and many countries have quarantine restrictions. As well, you may encounter challenges if trying to courier your passport across country borders, so it is recommended that you enrol your biometrics and submit your passport from within the same country. Clients will need to consult the VFS website for the country in which they are intending to enrol their biometrics and/or submit their passport.”
So looks like it can be done!! But like mentioned it’s illegal to courier the Indian passport I guess, it’s even mentioned in the passport that it should not be posted outside the country. I can send it through someone. I’m more confused now
This comes up fairly often - they do not (generally) expect eg Indian citizens living in Australia or the USA to return to India to submit their passport.
But it clearly is NOT intended as a way for eg Indian citizens in India to 'get around' the current travel restrictions.
Personally I would not recommend even trying to do this by sending passports to other countries to get stamped.
As for travelling to a third country (eg Serbia) to do this - also potentially risky and traveller should be aware that it might take quite a while (even a month) and if there are any problems or delays (or Serbia changes its rules), it's your problem.
For most right now it probably makes more sense to wait and see when the visa application centres re-open and/or travel restrictions loosened.