UK visa service to charge £5.48 to send them a single email from overseas

[Baerboxer]

54 minutes ago, PremiumLane said:

Don't you just love the Tories

 

Sadly, Labor ain't much better. Labor councils just love zero hours contracts.

[Fulwell53]

1 minute ago, Baerboxer said:

 

The outsource provider may well have had to bid based on "buying" the business i.e. actually paying the government. They then seek to make this pay by screwing the customers with charges (often ones that seem high) and reducing operating costs to the lowest possible, usually including restricted service and offshoring to the lowest cost location possible.

 

As an example, if I email a certain international banks email "help" desk I get drivel replies from an offshore location and rarely get the issue resolved. If I telephone the UK based phone help line I usually get the issue resolved their and then.

 

Nothing to do with real customer service but some genius will produce KPI's that show what a great job they're doing. Even in the face of massive complaints.

Thats the good old back home best in the world new age govts for you.

[Baerboxer]

Just now, Fulwell53 said:

Thats the good old back home best in the world new age govts for you.

 

Yep - and there are some who still like to pretend how wonderful Western governments of all hues are!

 

Democracy - we're elected to rule not serve!

[Jonmarleesco]

Ah, yet another service outsourced by HMG. No surprise that the private contractor will profiteer from it. And even less that a percentage will find its way into the treasury's coffers while the FO does even less work to earn it.

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

9 hours ago, brommers said:

As a Brit who left that country about 40 years ago I soon realised that once you have left the UK the state basically regards you as a traitor and treats you as such. Theresa May has intensified this in numerous ways, not least with the passport renewal system changes. And now she is clearly signalling that she does not want you to feel in any way welcome wethervyou are a British expat or a tourist or a visiting business person.

 

After the Brexit vote the good ship Britain has set sail and is ready to repel all those who are deluded enough to want to get on board.

 

 

Sounds like they will delighted you won't be.

[7by7]

7 hours ago, hansnl said:

8 hours ago, saakura said:

The contract would have been approved and signed by the bureaucrats at the foreign ministry and they are not Patels for sure?

Mohammed and Fatima probably.

 

Nothing to do with the Foreign Office.

 

The contract would have been negotiated and approved by officials of UK Visas and Immigration, which is part of the Home Office.

 

No idea the names of the officials concerned, by presumably it would have been approved by the Immigration Minister; Robert Goodwill.

 

Not much goodwill shown!

[7by7]

3 hours ago, Baerboxer said:

 

4 hours ago, PremiumLane said:

Don't you just love the Tories

Sadly, Labor ain't much better. Labor councils just love zero hours contracts.

 Indeed, it was Labour under Blair who decided that visa and LTR applications should no longer just cover processing costs but make huge profits for the government and introduced annual above inflation increases in fees.

 

It was Labour under Brown who first outsourced visa applications to private companies.

[partington]

3 hours ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Sadly, Labor ain't much better. Labor councils just love zero hours contracts.

Ending zero hours contracts is a current Labour policy, and is in their manifesto, but don't let facts get in the way.

 

http://www.labour.org.uk/index.php/manifesto2017/fair-deal-at-work

 

 

Edited May 31, 2017 by partington

[HauptmannUK]

I think you misjudge the mood of the British people.  I was listening to a radio phone-in programme today, the topic being the potential £1bn cost to the NHS if retired expats return to the UK as a result of Brexit. Virtually all the callers were hostile to expats. I think the general  view of expats 'post-Brexit' is that they are 'traitors' of some description.

[jacko45k]

18 hours ago, saakura said:

This is looting, plain & simple. And a windfall for the outsourced company, who may just set up a back office in India or someplace to answer the mails.

And perhaps answer them incompletely as a way to generate more revenue.

 

I have every sympathy with the UK trying to control immigration, but tourism should be easier.

 

[simoh1490]

Is the UK doing a Thailand?

 

I mean, tourism is now worth almost 200 billion Pounds per year or 10% of GDP, that means UK tourism alone is worth almost as much as the entire Thai GDP!

 

So when the UK starts to increase visa prices, charges more for visa services and taps more heavily that great cash cow of tourism, how really do they differ from Thailand.

[theoldgit]

Whilst I totally agree that charging for these advice services is a disgrace, especially given the quality of some of the responses, it should be borne in mind that very few people need to use this "service", certainly not those seeking a regular tourist visa or those with a non complicated case, I doubt if very many of us have needed to seek advice about our individual applications.

 

That said, unlike many other countries visa websites, the UKVI website isn't very user friendly and at times contradictory, it's almost as if hey are encouraging applicants to use the high priced clarification route, thus generating revenue for themselves.

[NanLaew]

17 hours ago, simoh1490 said:

Passport renewal every ten years, frozen pensions, inability to open an onshore bank account, inability to access the services of an onshore IFA, loss of NHS services, yet taxes and NI paid in full for 50 years and country served via time in the armed forces........I expect he might say!

OK. Lets pick the bones out of that little melange shall we?

 

I asked for anything beyond the frozen pension debacle. I am solidly with you on that national disgrace, especially if you are one of the relatively few savvy expats who maintained your social security contributions and are 100% vested in the system. It is shameful. Go tell your MP as much.

 

If you are healthy, the best any OAP can hope for is TWO passport renewals before the OAP expires, each one 10 years apart. If using VFS is such an insult to your old colonial sensibilities, you can always go home... and renew your passports there. The passport office does welcome you.

 

Regarding bank accounts; is the British government stopping you opening a new onshore account? Or are the banks ruling that having not lived in your home country for (say) 40 years, why on earth would you want one now? Admittedly, a lot of the difficulties are down to the UK’s Know Your Customer or KYC anti money-laundering regulations that have been interpreted differently by each bank. I had to jump through the personal ID hoops twice with the same bank within 18 months since after they did a restructuring and my personal ID information was not transferred along with my account.  Why did you close your old ones anyway? Or were they closed for you because (I know it's repetitive but) you were no longer living in the UK for (say) 40 years?

 

Not sure what restrictions prevail in getting the service of an 'onshore IFA' beyond the fact that after stricter government regulation on their fees, their numbers are in decline as a fair few reckon there's more money to be made after relocating to Dubai and the likes.

 

The NHS is the National Health Service, not the International Health Service.

 

Military service shouldn't and doesn't confer any extra benefits but I do commend those who chose to serve. My father (and both grandfathers before him) after serving in the forces, were career policemen, nothing ever higher than constable but guess what?, like everyone else, they were taxed on their pensions too.

 

It's all beginning to sound terribly like the "Whaur's mine?" attitude north of the border that was wrought of the SNP's populist, free hand-out jamboree.

 

16 hours ago, oldlakey said:

I am in full agreement with what you say

I am in the same boat

I would point out its too late to complain now, because if you did not know what was in store for you, you should have

Good point. Due diligence was not done when this whole "living the expat dream" thing kicked off and then nobody cared to keep up with regulatory changes. I would wager that most complainants haven't even voted for (say) 40 years. Right there is a solid reason why any Ombudsman would ask, "Who?" when confronted with their complaints.

 

16 hours ago, oldlakey said:

The way things are going it wont be long before they try and cut us adrift altogether

We are nothing but a financial millstone around their neck

Past performance counts for nothing with politicians 

And as for anything Victorian, I much prefer tipping the velvet

The penny has dropped then. But who cut who adrift first? Who burned their bridges?

 

Both my parents were victims of the wonderful NHS's system of making survival untenable. Old people are like old cars and very, very high maintenance. Through staffing cuts, incompetence and nepotism, my father's exit was accelerated so that he was even denied the dignity of dying at home that he so much wanted. We complained to the Ombudsman and we got apologies and witnessed positive action. When it came to my mother, who in their right mind would force an 86 year-old, mostly house-bound woman with several already debilitating pre-existing conditions to have a mastectomy because on the balance of prospects, it would increase her life span by 8 to 10 years? She didn't even last 5 months and like her husband, died in a badly managed government bed.

 

Be very careful what you wish for.

[evadgib]

 

Ok i'll bite....

 

Quote

The NHS is the National Health Service, not the International Health Service.

AFAIC a Brit presenting in UK with a full NI cont record should qualify but I accept not everyone agrees.

 

Quote

Military service shouldn't and doesn't confer any extra benefits but I do commend those who chose to serve. My father (and both grandfathers before him) after serving in the forces, were career policemen, nothing ever higher than constable but guess what?, like everyone else, they were taxed on their pensions too.

Conditions deemed attributable to service and for which war pensions are paid allow veterans inc non residents to be prioritized and treated by the NHS under the military covenant.

 

HTH

Edited June 1, 2017 by evadgib

[theoldgit]

Can I remind members that this thread is about the decision by the UKVI to contract out the answering of UK Visa queries from prospective applicants to a private contractor, it's not about the myriad of other issues facing the UK Government.

 

I would be grateful if you could restrict your comments to the actual issue in hand, I'm sure there are other threads elsewhere on the Forum where you can air your other concerns. 

 

Thank you 

[NanLaew]

55 minutes ago, evadgib said:

 

Ok i'll bite....

 

AFAIC a Brit presenting in UK with a full NI cont record should qualify but I accept not everyone agrees.

 

Conditions deemed attributable to service and for which war pensions are paid allow veterans inc non residents to be prioritized and treated by the NHS under the military covenant.

 

HTH

Good call, thanks for pointing this out. Looks like all bases are covered for retirees and ex-military. So what were these other guys complaining about again?

 

Back on topic; how many of these complaining about being ignored by the government of the country they haven't lived in for (say) 40 years treated dismissively by the government are likely to be using email in relation to a UK visa application?

[billd766]

21 hours ago, Gandtee said:

Perhaps his problem is the attitude shown by yourself and it would seem, by some people in the UK. Perhaps his beef is more to do with frozen pensions and the British government's disregard of it's 'coffin dodgers'  who worked all their lives, paid their taxes and expected the same treatment as UK  pensioners.

 

Don't forget the expats who are STILL paying income tax in the UK despite getting little or nothing in return.

 

taxation without representation

Examples

noun, American History.

1.

a phrase, generally attributed to James Otis about 1761, that reflected the resentment of American colonists at being taxed by a British Parliament to which they elected no representatives and became an anti-British slogan before the American Revolution; in full, “Taxation without representation is tyranny.”.

[evadgib]

7 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Back on topic; how many of these complaining about being ignored by the government of the country they haven't lived in for (say) 40 years treated dismissively by the government are likely to be using email in relation to a UK visa application?

My first thoughts were that a VPN or sponsor applying from within UK might render this obsolete but I didn't look particularly hard 

[NanLaew]

2 hours ago, billd766 said:

 

Don't forget the expats who are STILL paying income tax in the UK despite getting little or nothing in return.

 

taxation without representation

Examples

noun, American History.

1.

a phrase, generally attributed to James Otis about 1761, that reflected the resentment of American colonists at being taxed by a British Parliament to which they elected no representatives and became an anti-British slogan before the American Revolution; in full, “Taxation without representation is tyranny.”.

You either work back home, pay your taxes, get/claim all what's owed you, save up and have a nice overseas holiday once a year.

 

Or you embark on the worldwide expat gravy train, forgoing any and all right to the benefits of the UK domiciled and tax paying worker but saving like a bastard to make sure that you have a soft landing if/when you fall of the horse.

 

Or you embark on the worldwide expat gravy train, forgoing any and all right to the benefits of the UK domiciled and tax paying worker and practicing the mantra of faster horses, younger women, older whiskey and more money.

 

Or you can play safe and make all your contributions and pay your taxes while making hay in the foreign sunshine.

 

With regard to your "expats who are STILL paying income tax in the UK despite getting little or nothing in return", I don't think there's any way anyone can have it both ways.

[billd766]

6 hours ago, NanLaew said:

You either work back home, pay your taxes, get/claim all what's owed you, save up and have a nice overseas holiday once a year.

 

Or you embark on the worldwide expat gravy train, forgoing any and all right to the benefits of the UK domiciled and tax paying worker but saving like a bastard to make sure that you have a soft landing if/when you fall of the horse.

 

Or you embark on the worldwide expat gravy train, forgoing any and all right to the benefits of the UK domiciled and tax paying worker and practicing the mantra of faster horses, younger women, older whiskey and more money.

 

Or you can play safe and make all your contributions and pay your taxes while making hay in the foreign sunshine.

 

With regard to your "expats who are STILL paying income tax in the UK despite getting little or nothing in return", I don't think there's any way anyone can have it both ways.

 

There is no other way but I get fed up with being called a coffin dodger who pays nothing in the UK and takes everything out.

 

Many people seem to forget that foreign aid once it leaves the UK is dead money never to be seen again and NO income tax is payable on it by the governemnts and people that receive it.

[KhaoNiaw]

On 5/31/2017 at 3:00 PM, smedly said:

The headline is misleading, the charge is a one off per enquiry/application not per email which seems fair enough

In what way is that "fair enough"?

[Bastos60]

On 5/31/2017 at 6:42 AM, saakura said:

This is looting, plain & simple. And a windfall for the outsourced company, who may just set up a back office in India or someplace to answer the mails.

They probably already have set up offices in india for that purpose. Maximizing their profits in the meantime by not contributing to the immigration system.