VFS Global, which has been a trusted partner for the UK government since 2003, has won the global contract for overseas UK visa and citizenship services.
This award is the latest in a long line of wins for the world’s leading visa, passport and citizen services provider.
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, 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.
In the African region, VFS Global will deploy VCAS Centres for the UK in 31 countries over the course of next year.
These includes Kenya, Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Morocco and Mozambique.
Others are 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 through 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, it said.
The new contract is expected to deliver savings to the UK Government.
“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,"said Zubin Karkaria, Founder and CEO, VFS Global.
The UK is a popular destination for travellers from across the African region with Nigeria being the one of the top four application locations
VFS Global was also recently awarded the global biometric collection service mandate by Australia and renewal of the global visa service contract with Sweden.
VFS Global is the world's largest outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions.
It has partnerships with 70 client governments, operating a global network with more than 3,300 Application Centres in 147 countries.
The Zurich, Switzerland headquartered company has processed over 270 million applications since its inception in 2001.
