VFS vis agency - devils or angels?

[HermesHermes]

Or mix of both? I am referring to the visa application agency that has contracts (in some cases, monopolies) with Embassies.

 

I find the bureaucracies of most governments to be daunting. I am even more suspicious of their helpers, because it might make it worse (slower, more expensive), not better.  It also bugs ne that I have to do civil servants' work for them - filling out forms, making photocopies, etc. I am paying them and I do all the time-consuming inconvenient tasks. There very existence strikes me as over-priced gatekeepers.

 

Anyway, what is your opinion of VFS?

[youreavinalaff]

13 hours ago, HermesHermes said:

Or mix of both? I am referring to the visa application agency that has contracts (in some cases, monopolies) with Embassies.

 

I find the bureaucracies of most governments to be daunting. I am even more suspicious of their helpers, because it might make it worse (slower, more expensive), not better.  It also bugs ne that I have to do civil servants' work for them - filling out forms, making photocopies, etc. I am paying them and I do all the time-consuming inconvenient tasks. There very existence strikes me as over-priced gatekeepers.

 

Anyway, what is your opinion of VFS?

They are not an agency. 

 

There are there to accept applications and pass them on to the relevant visa processing department.

[mokwit]

13 hours ago, HermesHermes said:

Or mix of both? I am referring to the visa application agency that has contracts (in some cases, monopolies) with Embassies.

 

I find the bureaucracies of most governments to be daunting. I am even more suspicious of their helpers, because it might make it worse (slower, more expensive), not better.  It also bugs ne that I have to do civil servants' work for them - filling out forms, making photocopies, etc. I am paying them and I do all the time-consuming inconvenient tasks. There very existence strikes me as over-priced gatekeepers.

 

Anyway, what is your opinion of VFS?

I renewed passport through them in Bangkok and felt they were professional and service oriented, as they bloody well should be with what they are likely being paid.

[GypsyT]

On 12/17/2024 at 1:41 AM, HermesHermes said:

Anyway, what is your opinion of VFS?

Can't be printed here...

 

[HermesHermes]

I don't understand why VFS even exists (or equivalents such as BLS in Malaysia and Canada). It seems like the government of India (and other countries too) must be very busy if they can't function  in their official capacities, instead having to contract out their services to citizens and foreigners who want to visit. I used to go into the Consulate, have a face to face conversation with the receptionist and often the vice-representative, have a quick personal interview, etc. OK, that was the 1970s and 1980s. Now not only is much of the process done online, there is an added layer of delays and costs of going through such monopoly agencies. Is this becoming universal? I'll bet that Russia, China and USA do their own work.

[impulse]

28 minutes ago, HermesHermes said:

I don't understand why VFS even exists (or equivalents such as BLS in Malaysia and Canada). It seems like the government of India (and other countries too) must be very busy if they can't function  in their official capacities, instead having to contract out their services to citizens and foreigners who want to visit.

 

Given how many people show up with incomplete or just plain wrong documents, I can see where the Embassies/Consulates would farm out the work of going over the submittals to make sure nobody's wasting their time.  That includes the applicants.  Especially the ones who get downright belligerent when they have to come back tomorrow with the right stuff.

 

First time I ever saw it was trying to get a China visa in Korea during the 2008 Olympic Visa Debacle.  That's not to say that was the first time it's ever been implemented, just the first time I experienced it.  In that case there was a slew of agencies approved by the Embassy, not an exclusive arrangement with just one.  They all tried to make the applicants think they were the only one, but there was a whole street full of offices in Seoul.

 

I'd prefer to see using the agencies as an option, rather than mandatory.  And some healthy competition to get the best value in terms of service/cost.  But you can't always get what you want.

 

[Upnotover]

Used them for UK passport renewals and for 2 UK visa applications. Never had any issues with the processing of any of these. 

 

And more recently for 2 Thai tourist visa extensions, similarly without and problems.

 

Mind you I have also never had an issue with immigration, banks, taxi drivers or any other entity here, I must be blessed.