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Group Travel Account Manager South Africa

VFS Global appointed to administer UK government visa, passport service in 142 countries

19 Dec 2023

VFS Global has won the global contract for overseas UK visa and citizenship services. During 2024, VFS Global will deploy 240 Visa and Citizenship Application Service (VCAS) Centres for the UK in 142 countries across Africa and Middle East, the Americas, Australasia and Europe, China and Taiwan, and Asia and Asia Pacific regions.

These centres will accept all categories of visa applications as well as UK passport applications in some locations. Combined, these new centres are estimated to process 3.8 million applicants every year.

Source: JoshuaWoroniecki via Pixabay

In the African region, VFS Global will deploy Visa and Citizenship Application Service (VCAS) Centres for the UK in 31 countries over next year. The list of locations includes Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Saint Helena, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Beyond the scale of the deployment

VFS Global will invest to improve the customer journey and increase accessibility - including through new customer websites, and updated in-person experiences. VFS Global will deploy its latest technologies to maintain robust identity checks and ensure the integrity of the visa and passport application process. The new contract is expected to deliver savings to the UK Government.

Zubin Karkaria, Founder and CEO, VFS Global, says: "We are delighted to win this contract and expand our partnership with the Home Office to become their service provider for all UK visa customers overseas. We are excited to begin operations in new locations and to take the next step towards providing customers with a seamless, simple and secure visa and passport application experience. This win is a testament to our dedicated efforts to provide all our client governments with best-in-class services."

The UK is a popular destination for travellers from across the African region with Nigeria being the one of the top four application locations. This win comes soon after VFS Global being awarded the global biometric collection service mandate with Australia and renewal of the global visa service contract with Sweden.