VFS
Global has grown to become a $2.5bn (£2bn) company that is owned by
a private equity fund. Investors include the Chinese and Abu Dhabi
investment authorities, the Ohio Police and Fire Pension Fund, and
yoghurt billionaire Theo Muller. Headquartered in Dubai with
offices in 147 countries, VFS processed more than 25 million
visa applications last year alone. It has dealt with passport details
and financial histories on behalf of the UK and 61 other
governments. Obtaining financial accounts from Dubai is not
possible, while the rest of the firm's corporate structure,
which features entities in the Cayman Islands, Jersey and Luxembourg,
is also complicated. An analysis of the Luxembourg accounts
suggests that VFS’s shareholders have extracted £567m via
dividends and writing off intercompany loans in the past two years.
Previously,
the majority of UK visa applicants could submit
their applications in British embassies or consulates, where
their documents would be processed and decisions would be made. But
the service was outsourced in 2014, and decision-making was
concentrated in larger hubs run by VFS, which the Home Office
said at the time would “improve the efficiency and
consistency” of decision-making.
Fees
have increased since then, with the cost of applying for a standard
visit visa – the most popular type – rising by 14 per cent, from
£83 in 2014 to £95 in 2019. Applications for settlement have
increased from £885 to £1,523, a rise of 72 per cent. However,
analysis of Home Office annual accounts shows that the department’s
surplus from visa applications has increased at an even higher
rate. The figure stood at £178.6m for the five years before
2014, but over the past five years, the department has made
£1.6bn, and £438.1m last year alone – equating to £8.4m
each week. Certain “premium services”, including premium lounges
and priority visa services, some costing in excess of £1,500. Fees
were also introduced for applicants wishing to make a query about
their application, at £5.48 per query for the email service and
£1.37 per minute for the phone helpline.
The
Home Office has made £1.6bn from applicants looking to visit, study
or be reunited with their families – a nine-fold increase
on the five years prior to the start of the contract. The department
makes on average per visa application has increased from £28.73
to £122.56. People applying through VFS – the majority of
whom are from lower-income countries, with a quarter from south Asia.
1 comment:
Another aspect not shown is the increased price ex-pats now pay for the out-sourcing renewal of passports. Fees have increased, physical visits to the office to deliver and receive passport, and rather than the passport's new date being from the time of expiry, it is now from the time of application, meaning it a 10-year passport means now 9 years and 6 month passport.
Post a Comment