Hi, thought I would pass on my experiences and thoughts about the new Indian visa processing system at the Victoria office from VFS global. I travel to India quite a bit as my wife is the Head of a large multinational and lives there at the moment. First of all they never give out visas for more than 6 months if your are a tourist. NEVER! Even If you are working there the max visa they will give out first time is 12 months, this is for the head of a multinational and then in our experience they renew for another 12 months what happens next I do not know. The first time I went to the Indian high commission to get my visa I could not believe how disorganised the place was. Like something straight from the pages of Kafka, an absolute joke, they even had type writers from like 1940... I was there maybe
6 times to go through the same stupid process to get a 6 month visa. The good thing was that if you arrived early (no later than 6.30am and really you should have been there at 6am) you would be seen and have your visa within an hour and a half.
The new 'outsourced' (so they claim) process is 10 times worse... yes '10 TIMES WORSE!' and 20% more expensive. They now have computers but the same lax attitude and utter disrespect for the people making the applications. I think they had their staff trained by the 'Vogons' of Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy... (VFS - Vogon Franchise Systems?)
It is as if they are looking for any reason not to give you a visa. This probably has something to do with the no refund policy:
2 applications = twice the money style of logic and to hell with the fact that some people might actually have a busy life to lead. If you want to come to our glorious world beating technology empire then tough shit, prepare to go through hell to get there....
The appointment system is a joke. I recommend to make an appointment which allows you to get in the door first and push in front of anyone stupid enough not to have made an appointment - A guy comes to the outside entrance door and shouts 'all those with appointments queue here..' and then when you get inside push the button to get a ticket to see the appointment adviser and the non appointment adviser. Who knows what will happen next but just watch the screen and take whatever comes first....
You have to fill in the paperwork with black ink and capital letters and believe me they will check... - They have a special spectrometer machine and if the ink is not black enough the application will be rejected 3 days later and you will have to go through the whole process again (only joking they keep your passport for 7 days not three)
If you genuinely need a visa fast forget it. I was there with a poor guy whose father was dying of cancer. He had a fax from the doctor and a history of the illness getting progressively worse. This was not good enough, the fax was not acceptable. He needed a real letter! A real letter, how in hells name is that supposed to happen, by the time it had arrived - like say 4 days via a courier and plane from the hospital in India his father could be dead! This is much worse than you could possibly imagine as Hindu burials have to be completed quickly.
The whole situation is an absolute joke. Never have I come across such gross incompetence on a grand scale. This is almost as good as Terminal 5 (60,000 bags in a heap which had to be transported to Italy - maybe VFS were involved with that also?)
We all need to complain about the incompetence of VFS Global and the Indian high commission. This is not an acceptable process.
I was told the reason the system had been changed was because the 'Mandarins' at the High commision did not like the common people - us! Making their offices dirty!!!! Maybe it was interfering with their afternoon tea service!!!**!! How inconsiderate of us actually daring to show our faces whilst making a visa application and ruining their lovely day with the actual thought of maybe having to do some work. Obviously they forget what a New Delhi slum looks like having been living in the country of my birth for so long.
Solution to actual work? Get in VFS Global which is owned by my brothers cousins aunt, charge more money and do much less work! Genius idea!!!!!
More money + Less work = VFS Global Services!
Don't even get me started about the fact that to find out what they are doing with your passport costs £1 per minute....
Please comment and share your experiences...
regards, John
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Sorry but a lot of what you are complaining about is the fault of the High Commission (and by extension the Indian government) rather than VFS. If you follow their (admittedly complex) procedures, this system is a piece of cake.
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Nov 6th, 2008
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