VFS & Other Visa Applicants - Misleading Upselling Experiences

Yesterday we published an investigation of more than a year in the making into VFS Global, a visa outsourcing giant that has become a source of deep frustration and anger for many, synonymous with inexplicable delays, glitchy systems and – importantly – hidden fees. Rarely have I reported on an issue that such a huge volume of people across the globe are affected by, and that is the subject of so much outrage and grievance – but has received so little attention beyond exasperated individuals posting on social media and online fora. Working with journalists from 14 media outlets across 12 countries, and a brilliant reporting team within Lighthouse, we found a visa empire: a company that has come to dominate the global visa outsourcing market and generated huge profits by using exploitative practices to squeeze “optional” extra fees from people whose fragile hopes of reaching family or a job leave them vulnerable. Our reporting shows how VFS has facilitated a way for the world’s richest countries to offload the costs of visa administration to citizens of poorer countries, while simultaneously accumulating its own vast fortune. What we found (and you can read more about our findings and the source work FOI requests and data analysis that went into it in the link below) validates the reams of complaints about VFS across the internet from people who felt tricked or pressured into paying for expensive add-on services such as SMS alerts and 'Premium Lounge', and who received a shoddy service despite the high costs. I wrote earlier in this post that the issue has until now received very little media attention; I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the bulk of people affected are from countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. I hope our investigation will act not only as a voice for these people, but also raise serious questions for VFS and also the 71 governments that outsource to the company, including the vast majority of European countries. You can read more about our findings, and all of our brilliant partners’ stories, here https://lnkd.in/em9dWb9v. Thanks to a top Lighthouse Reports team: Margot Gibbs Sarasvati Thuppadolla Maud Jullien Tomas Statius Klaas van Dijken Charles Boutaud Eva Constantaras Ruben Nyanguila Wael Eskandar CALL-OUT:If you’ve experienced/witnessed aggressive or misleading upselling tactics or other poor practice by VFS or other visa outsourcing companies, we’d love to hear from you and we're happy to speak in confidence. Please email us: [email redacted].