WHY EVERYONE LOVES TO HATE VFS GLOBAL

The visa outsourcing firm is facing people’s ire over misplaced passports, delays, unethical conduct of some employees

- Varuni Khosla

In mid-August, a 21-year-old, about to join a merchant navy company in the US, reached a visa application centre run by VFS Global Services Pvt. Ltd, the world's largest visa outsourcing company, in Delhi's Shivaji Stadium.

He had applied for a visa under the C-1/D category—those travelling to the US to work on commercial sea vessels and international airlines need a crewmember (D) visa as well as a transit (C-1) visa.

The visa was processed and the passport was ready for collection, he was intimated. But a surprise awaited. The young mariner’s passport had been dispatched to the Kolkata VFS office for collection. He had appeared for the visa interview in Delhi and never chose Kolkata as the delivery option.

“The teller handling passports first said that my profile in the system showed ‘Kolkata VAC’ as the pickup location. I never chose Kolkata as I live just four hours from Delhi. Then, the teller argued that my visa application was possibly filled by an agent who accidentally chose Kolkata on my behalf," the mariner said.

Next, a VFS executive at the centre suggested alternatives. Fly down to Kolkata if in a hurry or pay the company close to ₹1,000 for the passport to be brought back to Delhi. He could even authorize someone in Kolkata to collect it. But none of these options made sense since the mariner would lose time. His bags were packed and he had to leave by the third week of August. Eventually, he deferred the joining date, and his employer, who was paying for the travel to the US, incurred a financial loss.

He took solace from the fact that he was not the only one who faced this hassle. When he went to collect the passport in Delhi, he met a lady with a similar problem. She jostled with the passport collection staff at VFS because her passport had been dispatched to the Chennai centre without her consent.