Dhaka is where Bangladesh's visa paperwork actually happens. Embassies sit in Baridhara and Gulshan, most outsourced centres cluster along Gulshan Avenue, and people from every division ride in for appointments. If you live in the capital you have a real advantage: the counters are a rickshaw or CNG ride away, so you can time things tightly. This page is written for Dhaka residents, both Bangladeshi citizens and the foreign professionals who live here on a work permit. Below you will find the office responsible for each common destination, the precise flight wording on their published lists, the airport you will depart from, and the way to order from us. Everything we do happens on the internet, so there is no desk of ours in Dhaka to visit.
Dhaka at a glance
| Topic | What we found for Dhaka (October 2026) |
|---|---|
| Airport | Hazrat Shahjalal International (DAC), Kurmitola, 17 km from the northern city centre.[1] |
| International terminals | Terminal-1 and Terminal-2, in one building; Terminal-3 still described as under construction.[2] |
| Germany (and Estonia, limited) | German Embassy Dhaka; appointments only via VFS.[4] |
| France | VFS France centre, Rangs Z Square, Gulshan 2, open since 17 September 2025.[6] |
| Italy (plus Malta and Slovakia) | VFS, Nafi Tower, Gulshan 1; also Chattogram and Sylhet.[9] |
| Netherlands (plus Poland) | VFS Dhaka, for people who live in Bangladesh.[7] |
| United States | U.S. Embassy, Baridhara.[10] |
| Our fee | $9 for each person named, card checkout via Razorpay |
Which embassy or visa centre takes a Dhaka resident's file?
For nearly every Schengen country and for North America, the answer is an office inside Dhaka itself. That is what separates the capital from Chattogram or Khulna, where people often lose a day travelling.
Germany books appointments only through VFS, and the embassy warns against third parties selling slots.[4] It also states that the responsible mission is decided "exclusively" by your current main place of residence, not by your passport.[4] Estonia is handled here only for a few narrow groups, such as official passport holders.[4]
France moved its collection to VFS in September 2025. The centre in Gulshan 2 takes short-stay and long-stay files, and the embassy's announcement is clear that VFS only welcomes applicants and collects documents; decisions remain with the embassy.[6]
Italy accepts applications only at VFS, and lists its Dhaka office at Nafi Tower on South Gulshan Avenue, with visa submissions taken Sunday to Thursday mornings.[9]
The Netherlands uses VFS Dhaka and also takes Polish Schengen files there.[7]
The UK has used VFS in Gulshan for years; the last GOV.UK notice on location we found, from 2014, gives Delta Life Tower, Road 45, Gulshan North.[12] That notice is old, so confirm the address in the appointment email. Canada lists a visa application centre in Dhaka, alongside Chittagong and Sylhet.[14]
Working in Dhaka on a foreign passport?
You can usually apply from Dhaka, provided Bangladesh is genuinely where you live. Plenty of foreign nationals do: engineers on power and infrastructure projects, garment-sector buyers and merchandisers, NGO staff, teachers at international schools. The rules that matter to you are about residence, not nationality.
- Germany asks non-Bangladeshi applicants for a valid Bangladesh residence permit that still has at least three months left after the requested visa ends.[5]
- The Netherlands says you can submit in Dhaka only if you live in Bangladesh; otherwise you use the country where you do live.[7]
- The United States asks applicants to book the interview in their country of residence or nationality.[10]
Our practical tip: check your permit's expiry date before anything else. Say your Bangladesh work permit runs to 31 January and you want a German visa ending on 20 December. That leaves under six weeks, which falls short of Germany's three-month margin. Renew first, then apply. No flight document will rescue a file with a residence gap.
Nationality makes no difference to the reservation. Copy the spelling from the passport on your application, begin the route at DAC when that is your real departure airport, and make sure every date falls within your permit.
What do the Dhaka checklists say about flights?
| Destination | Where a Dhaka resident applies | Flight wording on the official page | Our view |
|---|---|---|---|
| Germany, family or friends visit | VFS for the German Embassy[4] | "Flight reservation or travel itinerary. You do not have to book a flight, you just need to reserve the flight."[5] | Exactly what a hold is |
| Netherlands | VFS Dhaka[7] | A booking in your name is enough; payment is not required[8] | Reservation matches the wording |
| France | VFS Gulshan 2[6] | France-Visas could not be opened by us in October 2026 | Follow your France-Visas document list |
| Italy | VFS Gulshan 1[9] | Checklists sit on the VFS site; not retrieved by us | Follow the VFS list |
| USA | Embassy, Baridhara[10] | Advises against buying tickets before the visa[11] | Nothing needed |
| UK | VFS, Gulshan[12] | Flight bookings appear among documents that are not useful, unless transiting[13] | Usually leave it out |
Some lists use the words "confirmed ticket" or "paid ticket". Read those literally: a seat on hold may fall short of them, so a refundable fare is the more cautious purchase in that case.
Appointment in Gulshan this week?
We hold a seat for $9 a person and email the PDF, usually ten minutes after you pay.
Visiting relatives in Germany from Dhaka
Germany publishes a separate information sheet for family and friends visits, and it is worth reading in full rather than relying on the tourism sheet. Its flight item accepts either a reservation or an itinerary, and the sheet goes on to say that reserving the seat is all you need to do.[5]
Two other items on that sheet trip people up. Medical insurance has to cover at least EUR 30,000 plus repatriation across the Schengen area, and insurance that comes free with a credit card is not accepted.[5] And for foreign residents, the residence permit rule above applies.
The embassy also says processing normally takes 15 working days, but that heavy demand has stretched both appointment waits and decision times, and neither the mission nor VFS can speed things up.[4] So get on the VFS calendar early, and leave the flight reservation until the last few days.
More on the German process overall is in our Germany visa guide.
France now has its own centre in Gulshan
Before September 2025, French applications in Dhaka went to the embassy. Since 17 September 2025 they go to the VFS France centre on Gulshan Avenue, and you book the slot on VFS's France pages for Bangladesh.[6] The launch note lists optional extras such as a premium service, courier return and form filling. None of those are required; buy them only if they save you a real trip.
We could not load France-Visas from our side this month, so we cannot quote the French wording on travel documents for Bangladesh. When you finish the online France-Visas form, it produces a personalised list of papers to bring, and that list is the one to follow. Our France visa guide covers the general French approach.
Your US interview in Baridhara
Dhaka residents interview at the embassy in Baridhara. One local rule stands out: when an officer judges a Bangladeshi applicant otherwise eligible for B1/B2, a bond (maximum $20,000) has to be lodged before the visa is printed, with instructions handed over at the interview.[10] We cover what that means for timing on our Khulna page, so we won't repeat it here.
The embassy also runs an Interview Waiver Program, where qualifying applicants post their applications instead of attending, though officers may still call some of them in.[10] Neither route asks you for a flight document, and the State Department's guidance is that fares are best bought after approval.[11]
Flying out of Hazrat Shahjalal (DAC)
Your reservation should start where you will really board, and for a Dhaka resident that is almost always DAC. The airport sits at Kurmitola and is run by the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh.[1] It is the main base for Biman and for private carriers such as US-Bangla, Novoair and Air Astra.[1]
International flights use Terminal-1 and Terminal-2. The airport's own terminals page still describes Terminal-3 as under construction, with a 2025 target date, and we could not confirm on an official page whether it has opened.[2] For a reservation the terminal hardly matters; for your real departure, check your airline's instructions.
Choice is wide. The airport's carrier directory lists more than forty airlines, from Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad and Turkish Airlines to Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Thai, Malaysia Airlines and Ethiopian.[3] Emirates alone says it runs 21 flights a week between Dhaka and Dubai.[15]
For a Schengen file, a one-stop routing through a Gulf or Istanbul hub is the most ordinary-looking itinerary from Dhaka. For a Biman itinerary and how to look up a Biman PNR, see our Biman page.
Two Dhaka scenarios
An Uttara family visiting a brother in Munich. Picture a couple and their teenage son who want three weeks in Bavaria over the winter holidays. They book one VFS slot per person for the German Embassy, a few weeks out. Four days before the appointment they order one reservation listing all three names, Dhaka to Munich via Dubai and back. The brother's invitation, the insurance certificate and the reservation all carry the same arrival and departure dates. That matches the family sheet's "reserve, don't book" wording.[5] After the visas come back, they buy actual seats, ideally on a fare they can change.
An Indian engineer posted to Dhaka, going to Amsterdam. Now imagine a project engineer from Pune who has lived in Gulshan for two years on a Bangladeshi work permit. Because he lives in Bangladesh, VFS Dhaka is the right place for his Dutch application.[7] The Dutch checklist accepts a booking in his name for the way in and out, unpaid.[8] His DAC–AMS reservation spells his name the way the Indian passport does, letter for letter, and a copy of the Bangladeshi work permit goes into the file too.
When should a Dhaka applicant order?
Aim for a window of two to four days ahead of your slot. Holds run for 2 weeks at the most; the airline fixes the real limit, and on some fares it is much shorter. Because you live close to the centres, you can afford to cut it fine. If VFS reschedules you, simply order a fresh reservation for the new date rather than submitting one that may have lapsed.
Consider timing on the Schengen side too. The EU lets you apply up to six months ahead and asks for at least 15 days before travel.[16] Book the appointment early; order the flight late.
How to order from Dhaka
- Confirm which office handles you and download the checklist for your visa category.
- Open our booking page and enter DAC, your destination and the dates on your application form.
- Type each traveller's name exactly as on the passport data page, including middle names.
- Pay $9 per traveller by card via Razorpay. For trips with several stops, the price page explains how legs are counted.
- Watch your inbox; the PDF normally follows within ten minutes.
- Confirm the booking yourself with the carrier's online retrieval tool; we explain how in our checking guide.
Lost track of an order? Track it here. Need accommodation evidence as well? See hotel reservations.
Mistakes Dhaka applicants can skip
- Paying an agent for a VFS slot. Germany says appointments come only through VFS.
- Applying in Dhaka while living elsewhere. Residence, not passport, decides the mission.
- A work permit that ends too soon for Germany's three-month margin.
- Calling the reservation a ticket on any form. It is a held booking, nothing more.
- Taking it to the check-in desk at DAC. You need a paid ticket to fly.
Departure checks at Dhaka airport and onward-ticket rules abroad are covered in our guide for Bangladeshi travellers and on the onward ticket page.
Dhaka FAQ
Do you have an office in Dhaka where I can pay cash?
No. DummyTicketPrice has no counter in Gulshan or anywhere in Bangladesh, and cash is not an option. You complete the web form, settle $9 for each person on the Razorpay card checkout, and a PDF reaches your email shortly afterwards, generally inside ten minutes. Any print shop near the visa centre can print it.
Which German visa sheet applies if I am visiting my sister in Berlin?
The German Embassy Dhaka's information sheet for visiting family and friends. Its flight line is satisfied by a reservation or itinerary, since reserving rather than buying is enough. The sheet also wants for at least EUR 30,000 of medical insurance with repatriation, and for foreign applicants, a Bangladesh residence permit valid three months beyond the visa.
Where do I submit a French visa application in Dhaka now?
At the VFS France centre in Rangs Z Square, Gulshan 2, which opened on 17 September 2025. You book the slot through VFS's France pages for Bangladesh. VFS only collects the file; the visa section of the French Embassy in Dhaka makes the decision. Bring whatever travel proof your personalised France-Visas list names.
I am a Filipino national working in Dhaka. Can I apply for a Schengen visa here?
Usually yes, if Bangladesh is where you live. The Netherlands accepts applications in Dhaka only from people living in Bangladesh, and Germany requires a residence permit valid three months beyond the visa. Use the name from your Philippine passport on the reservation, and include your permit copy as the checklist asks.
Can my reservation start from Dhaka if I live in Dhaka but my family flies from Sylhet?
Use whichever airport each traveller will genuinely board at. A family leaving together from DAC needs one Dhaka itinerary. Relatives flying out of Sylhet need theirs to begin in Sylhet. Consulates compare the reservation with the plan stated on each form, so the two should tell the same story for every applicant.
Will the PNR still work on my appointment day?
It should, provided you order a few days ahead. Holds run for two weeks at most, and each carrier sets its own expiry, sometimes sooner. Open the booking online on the eve of your Gulshan visit to be sure, and buy a replacement if VFS moves your slot.
Is a flight booking needed for a UK visitor visa from Dhaka?
Not normally. The UK's guide to supporting documents puts flight bookings among the items that do not help a visit application, unless you are transiting. Spend the effort on financial and employment evidence instead. Our UK visa guide explains what the Home Office does want to see.
Ready to order from Dhaka?
$9 per traveller, emailed as a PDF, and retrievable on the airline's own website.
Before you submit: what we sell is a held booking, not a paid fare, and it cannot win a visa on its own. Name it accurately on every form, make its dates agree with the rest of the bundle, and accept that the embassy has the final word.
First time using us? The home page gives a short overview. Other Bangladesh city pages: Chittagong and Khulna. Country guides: Netherlands, Italy, USA, UK and Canada. Background reading: flight reservations for visas, requirements by country and Schengen flight evidence.
Sources
All sources last checked: October 2026.
- Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, About HSIA.
- Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Terminals.
- Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Airlines directory.
- German Embassy Dhaka, Schengen visa.
- German Embassy Dhaka, Information sheet: Schengen visa, visiting family and friends.
- VFS Global, France visa services launched in Dhaka (17 September 2025).
- NetherlandsWorldwide, Applying for a Schengen visa in Bangladesh.
- NetherlandsWorldwide, Checklist: Schengen visa for tourism.
- Embassy of Italy in Dhaka, Where to apply for a visa.
- U.S. Embassy in Bangladesh, Visas.
- U.S. Department of State, Visitor visa.
- GOV.UK, UK visa application centre changes location (March 2014).
- GOV.UK, Guide to supporting documents: visiting the UK.
- Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Find a visa application centre.
- Emirates, Flights from Dhaka to Dubai.
- European Commission, Applying for a Schengen visa.
