VFS Global's Hidden Revenue Model: How They Exploit Applicants
I am extremely disappointed with the service provided by VFS Global. Despite your claims of having "global standards," my experience has been nothing but frustrating and unprofessional. Finding contact information on your website was a nightmare, and the fact that I have to pay $2.48 per minute to speak with representatives who lack basic knowledge about Nepal is utterly unacceptable. For your information, Nepal is a neighboring country to India with deep historical, cultural, and religious ties. Nepali and Indian citizens do not need visas to travel between the two countries. The only reason I applied for an OCI card was to simplify my travel process.
It is outrageous that VFS Global, an outsourced service provider, assumes the authority to decide eligibility for an OCI card, particularly when all requirements are met in cases like mine. Your job is to facilitate applications, not make arbitrary decisions that impact applicants.
Your refund policy is equally appalling. According to your website:
"If your application is rejected or unprocessed applications are returned after 21 days by VFS Indian Consular Application Centre, you will receive your eligible refunds within 15 business days."
Where is my refund? My application number is xxxxxxxxxx It has been far beyond the stipulated timeframe, yet there is no update or refund. Why do customers have to chase your company repeatedly for refunds? This lack of accountability is unacceptable.
Your "premium service" model seems to be a money-making machine, designed to exploit applicants. Why are customers being charged exorbitantly for basic tasks that should already be covered by the application fees? For instance:
Missing/Additional Documents: $1.04 per page
Uploading Digital Photo/Signature: $7.99
One-way Courier Fee: $18; Two-way Courier Fee: $36
Online Payment Convenience Fee: 3.5%
In my case, I was asked to resubmit the same documents multiple times. After mailing them again, I was told they were "not received," forcing me to pay extra to upload them digitally. These charges are nothing but a scheme to milk more money from frustrated applicants.
Your focus appears to be on upselling "premium services" rather than delivering the basic services you are paid to provide. This is unethical and shameful. How much profit does VFS Global make by systematically creating barriers for applicants and then charging them to overcome those barriers?
To all potential customers reading this review: BEWARE. This company should not be trusted with premium services when they cannot handle standard applications responsibly. If you've experienced similar issues, I encourage you to leave your reviews and share your frustrations.
VFS Global, it is time to reflect on your practices and prioritize customer service over profit. Refund my money immediately and resolve pending issues for others as well. Exploiting people who are already paying you to do your job is unacceptable.
VFS Global's Exploitation: A Financial Breakdown
VFS Global appears to have a systematic revenue model based on additional charges and delays that heavily burden applicants. Here's a financial analysis focusing on their practices in the USA alone:
Document Upload Fees
Many applicants are forced to re-upload documents, incurring a charge of $1.04 per page. Assuming 50% of the estimated 4.5 million Indian residents in the USA apply for OCI and use this service:
Revenue: $11.7 million
Phone Call Charges
VFS charges $2.48 per minute for customer support. Assuming 50% of applicants make one 20-minute call:
Revenue: $55.8 million
Premium Service Fees
VFS aggressively markets "premium services" at an average cost of $500 per applicant. If 10% of applicants opt for this service:
Revenue: $112.5 million
Refund Delays
For rejected applicants (10% of the total), VFS holds refunds for two months. Assuming the application fee is $293, and a conservative annual ROI of 5% on the held funds:
Revenue from interest: $550,519
Total Revenue in the USA
Combining all these streams, VFS generates an estimated $180.55 million from the USA alone.
Global Implications
If these figures are extrapolated to the global Indian population (~200 million), the revenue would likely amount to billions of dollars, demonstrating a massive financial gain at the expense of applicants.

This company is an absolute scam! It's been three years and three Schengen and three UK visas, and EVERY SINGLE TIME I try to log into my account, the website fails. Every few weeks, it's a different problem. I honestly have NEVER EVER seen that many bugs in the simple log in process with no other company. I'm glad you created this thread bc I feel hopelessly angry and ready to scream every time I have to deal with this excuse of a "service."

I always go to their application center in Abu Dhabi, and the process there so far was okay for me. Not stellar, but acceptable. But the tech side of their business - the website - is an absolute piece of unprefessional embarrassing and disrespectful trash. I've spen hours upon hours before each of my six recent applications trying to... log in! Just logging in never works! Two years ago, it had this bug where it would kick me out of the system while I was trying to book an appointment. It would kick me out for no reason halfway through my application, and then I'd have no choice but to log in again. But I couldn't log in bc right away they'd say that my account is blocked due to too many attempts to log in... You useless "service providers", I would've not needed to log in if you hadn't kicked me out of the system in the first place! So I spent days trying to login from different accounts, gadgets, and browsers, cleaning cookies, creating new accounts, and so on.

Now, two years later, they apparently upgraded the system and MADE IT EVEN WORSE! Now, it's no longer the issue of getting kicked out from the system and then having to spend days logging in. First, I tried to sign in, the "sign in" button on the Login page just didn't work! I tried from different browsers, gadgets, etc. - to no avail. After that, I tried the Activate button, and it told me that my account doesn't exist. The account that I already used two times to get my French Schengen appointments! Okay, maybe they reset their system and removed my account. So, I created it again. And you know what? The activation process didn't work. It worked from like third attempt first showing some random messages. After the account was activated, I finally was able to log in. There were obviously no appointments available at the visa center. A few days later, I'm trying to log in again, and... the "log in" button is still not working! I can't even log into your broken system!

Are all those troubles with logging in created just to decrease the pressure on your visa centers? If yes, this is pathetic and unprofessional. If it's not the reason, then it's equally pathetic and unprofessional because your company obviously is abusing the monopoly power it has while provide absolutely unacceptable service. You managed to do worse than Ticketmaster or AT&T. I hope very soon this excuse of a company will finally get out of business.

I am writing to express my utmost disappointment and frustration with the appalling service provided by VFS Global for my visa application. I feel completely scammed after paying a hefty fee of 5600 AED for the so-called "next day service," only to be left in complete darkness for two weeks without any response. Super Priority Visa DOES NOT EXIST - its just a profit making scheme for them. DO NOT BELIEVE IT.

My visa application reference number is GWF*******, and I diligently followed all the prescribed procedures, submitting all the required documents as per your guidelines. Despite my meticulous adherence, I have not received any communication whatsoever regarding the progress of my application.

This level of service is beyond unacceptable and reflects a complete disregard for customers. I expected, at the very least, timely updates and transparent communication considering the exorbitant fee I paid for expedited service. Instead, I have been left in a state of distress and anxiety, uncertain about the fate of my application.

I have made numerous attempts to address this issue, reaching out to the Home Office and my Member of Parliament for assistance. In addition, I am actively exploring legal remedies through the Dubai Court and the Ombudsman in the UK. It is disheartening to find myself resorting to such measures due to the lack of basic customer care and professionalism.

I implore VFS Global to rectify this situation immediately and provide an explanation for this inexplicable delay and lack of communication. It is imperative that your organization upholds its responsibility to customers, ensuring transparency, accountability, and prompt service throughout the visa application process.

The level of disappointment and frustration I am experiencing cannot be overstated. I trusted VFS Global to deliver on its promises and provide a seamless visa application experience. Instead, I find myself questioning the integrity of your organization and regretting my decision to entrust you with such an important matter.

I demand an immediate resolution to this issue and a full refund of the exorbitant fee I paid. Moreover, I sincerely hope that VFS Global undertakes a thorough review of its processes to prevent other customers from enduring the same distressing and deplorable experience.

VFS is what happens when a predatory business model tries to convince a country they're better off outsourcing their responsibilities to the private sector. I recently had an appointment in the Chicago location and it was genuinely one of the most horrendous experiences I've ever witnessed in my entire life. It feels like I got a sneak-peek as to what the world would be like if society were to fully break down to the point of disrepair.

Let's start with the first issue - it's near impossible to schedule an appointment with the office in the first place. Nobody picks up the phone, the website has bugs + feedback loops that make it impossible to confirm an appointment, and the response rate from the few customer service representatives there is glacial at best. It took over two months for me to get an appointment slot from the day I filed my government application, and the funniest part is that looking back on this situation the scheduling is only about 10% why I'm frustrated with VFS.

The other 90% is what happens when you arrive at the office. I'll say it right now - unless you're working with the government of the United Kingdom, France, Ghana, or Ireland, you are almost always going to be better looking into seeing if you can get your application filed at a different consular mission in a different city. It's genuinely that bad.

Why is it bad? Well for starters, the UK, Ghana and Ireland get their own offices/application lines. Of the six desks that process applications, three of them are reserved exclusively for French applicants, meaning the other 10+ countries have to share the remaining three kiosks. Those working on the French desks were apparently "not certified" or in their words "not paid enough" to work on other applications... and oh yeah, THERE WAS ONLY ONE PERSON AVAILABLE TO PROCESS ALL OF THE APPLICATIONS FOR ALL OF THE OTHER COUNTRIES.

Let's do some math. If we assume the average applicant takes 30 minutes to have their application processed and there's a line of 8-10 people, that means the average applicant is waiting anywhere between 4-5 HOURS to be seen after their appointment slot. The only reason I was able to be seen in the 3.5 hours it took me to wait was because they allowed me to cut the line ahead of several other applicants (they apparently prioritize passport applications over visa applications).

People missed flights from O'Hare to ensure they were seen for their application. Some folks were panicking because they didn't know if they were going to be able to leave the city until the day after the appointment. The energy was awful, the vibes rancid, and the "no cell phone use allowed" policy made the waiting all the more painful.

They also nickel and dimed me for services I wouldn't have paid for had I known their were optional/cost money, so not great on that front either.

Long story short - this office is the worst of every private-sector outsourcing stereotype. I expect seeing a segmented queue at a theme park, but the idea that 90% of people have to wait literally 4-5x as long as they would need to because of understaffing is absolutely atrocious. Even worse when you think that the governments that they play favorites with have virtually no wait in their lines.

Normally I write reviews to help businesses learn more about what's working and what's not. I can say with confidence that there is absolutely NOTHING working (including the people) at VFS Global, and my only hope with this review is that enough people think like me to convince these partner governments to fire this company. They are a hinderance to the EU's ability to provide consular services abroad, their office is full of smug, arrogant bureaucrats with smug, arrogant smiles so vile that I genuinely can't bring an ounce of myself to feel bad if they were all fired en masse.

Holland, Norway, Iceland, Lithuania, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Austria... your citizens need you. Do better.

My initial review is from August 2021, but seeing as the company has inflated their reviews on trust pilot I figured I'd post it here too:

My initial meeting at the San Francisco office was on August 2nd. I flew there from Idaho for the day with all of the documentation needed. I was contacted 2 weeks later by a VFS employee telling me that the biometrics I did had failed in the Consulates system and there wasn't a back up. The VFS employee who took my biometrics said she should have taken a backup but admitted that she failed to. I had to fly back to San Francisco to get my biometrics retaken. When I arrived on the 19th the biometric system was down so I had to return in the afternoon. Then on the 26th of August I received a message from the Consulate that my Visa had been processed and dropped off at the DC VFS office. I then received a message from the VFS office that my visa had been given to FED EX. An SF employee (Elaine) texted me to tell me that it was on its way and I should receive it the following day, Friday Aug 27. All seemed well.

Except I didn't receive my Passport and VISA the next day. Upon looking at the tracking number, Fed Ex said they had never received the package. I had to change my nearly $2,000 flight because VFS had lost my VISA. I reached out to VFS and couldn't get a hold of anyone. There are 0 checks and balances and no one would look for my lost passport. Finally after reaching out to FEDEX, an employee in the warehouse found a pile of documents (likely VISAs and Passport) from VFS that had been packaged incorrectly, with the shipping label on the inside and therefore untraceable. Overall between the flights to San Francisco, the changed flight to France, and the lost days of work, this has cost me over $2,000. I was lucky to speak to someone at FEDEX who helped me. AVOID this company at all costs (hard to do since its somehow a monopoly), there should be a class action lawsuit coming up honestly due to them losing peoples passports.

On 30 October 2022, I applied for a Dubai visa through Emirates Airlines. Emirates Airlines outsources this to VfS Global.

On filling the Vfs form for UAE visa, I found that some pages did not go to the next page after filling. They hung up. So I logged out thinking the page was not saved. After some time, I went back. Then, on re-opening I found that the page had been saved, so I was happy and went along. Then I completed and came to the payment page. After pressing the pay button, I got an error message (suggesting that payment had not gone through). So I was forced to log out. Then I tried one hour later. The same thing happened after the clicking the pay button. So I logged out again.

A few hours later I got an unexpected email saying the payment was received with a VfS confirmation number for the visa application. In 2 days, I got the UAE visa.

Then I checked my bank statement. I found that I had two deductions from VfS for the visa. That means on the two times I got the error messages after clicking the pay button, both times, the transactions had gone through.

This is should not happen in a website. Then I wrote to the contact page that came with the VfS email (notifying me the visa is being processed), saying I had been charged twice for the same visa, and the second payment should be returned to the card.

Contact Us Page: https://www.dvpc.net/EK-OnlineVisa/EKOnline/VisaApplicantionQuery/DisplayVisaApplicationQueryForm.

I got the following reply after sending the message through the contact form link above: Address not found, Your message wasn't delivered to *******@dubaivisa.net because the address couldn't be found, or is unable to receive mail.

I sent the message twice through the Contact form VfS sent and got the same reply.

I have searched the net for the VfS customer service desk for a telephone number, but I could not find it for Dubai. There are various VfS links and telephone numbers for applying for visas from Dubai to various European countries. But none dealing with customer problems with VfS's UAE visa service for Emirates Airlines. I informed Emirates Airlines about the double charging and they also did not reply as they say the work is done by VfS.

I have the sneaking suspicion that VfS has set up their website so that this happens - they know people will have a second shot at payment after receiving the error message when pressing the pay button. People may have a shortage of time for getting the visa and may be anxious and so they try again immediately. Vfs does send the email for the receipt for the first payment immediately, it comes after hours, so the person does not know and has a second shot.

If you get an error message after the first payment attempt, check your bank statement immediately and don't make a second effort. Wait for the email saying the payment is received.

I shall have to keep trying to find a way to contact VfS to get my money back.

The VFS website is not working, it is impossible to schedule an appointment for visa applications, and customer service throw the blame on either the device, browser or internet connection.

And when I can not book an appointment after 2 months customer service say try daily, just try.
It is obvious that the website is not user friendly, the options do not work, and if by a miracle it does, it displays "error" without any explanation. The website usebility is below standard.

With VFS global we go back to begin era of internet. VFS website should not be launched in this stage.

Now I have to try daily and there is no queque, whereas if another person just checked in over 2 days he/she may be lucky to make an appointment. For this reason its unfair appoinment bookingsystem.

Beside this it's not clear what the policy is on maximum duration in the possiblity of making an appointment. Instead you have to make daily effort through a very bad working website. With the luck you can make an appointment.

Appointment issues:
- daily errors website;
- slow website;
- have to check daily over 2 months, with no result;
- customer service have a standard reply: just try daily, blaming the internetuser in not following the notification on not handling the website errors correctly;
- can not make a appoinment reservation in the near future. Or the possibility to leave my emailaddress in order VFS global email the customer automaticaly when there is availabale date.
- the written notification for scheduling an appointment does not directly reffer to administration appointment as the following text is showen: no seats are availabele. As I'am taking a airplaine to book a ticket for a seat.

How now further? I still did not manage to book an appointment at Rabat center for Schengen Visum to the Netherlands.

My experience with VFS has been unprofessional and unacceptable for a contracted service provided by the UK government. For some background, I applied for my student visa on 20 July 2021, my biometrics appointment was 13 August 2021, and I shipped my passport including all required documents to their New York office 14 August 2021. I paid for the SMS service expecting I would receive updates and texts notifications on the status of my application. On 29 August 2021 I received an email asked for a return label (I had purchased one already to be shipped back to my address and had the tracking already) but figured it could have been misplaced or lost. So I paid them $45 and gave them my return address. In this email it did not state if my visa was approved or any indication of a status, just for my return label.

After this email I heard absolutely nothing from VFS. I began emailing them 7 days after their initial email inquiring the status of my visa because I still had not received it in the mail. So I then became unsure and worried if it was even approved in the first place. I emailed the original email of the return inquiry, their customer service email, three employees who were CC on the original email, and a VFS labels email. There was absolutely no responses to any of these except one out of the office email with a phone number in the bottom corner. First off if you try calling the office I believe they have disconnected their phone lines or do not have a phone at all. The number at the bottom of one of their employees email did not pick up after numerous times even after I left a voice message.

On 13 September I finally received an email from one of the employees in the office only stating "Our officer should be concluding process within the next 2 days. It will be dispatched then." That was it. After emailing probably 20 different times to 5 different emails this was the response I got. Vague and lacking the information I inquired about.

The next day I spent $200 of my own money to travel from Boston to New York to go to the office myself and figure out what was going on. When I arrived around 10 am there were 10-15 people outside who were in the exact situation I was… left in the dark and worried if they would get their student visa for their studies.

I rewrote my information on that same list and sat outside their office for about 5 hours until I received an email that my passport was ready and going to be shipped out at the end of that day. I was there… and they still wanted to ship out my passport because of "protocol". Naturally being frustrated I made it clear I was not leaving the office until I had my passport in my hand and finally when the office closed after 7 hours of sitting outside on the street I signed a release form and got my visa.

I understand we are in a pandemic, I understand that they are extremely overwhelmed with processing visas, but what I do not understand is the absolute lack of customer service and zero transparency to their customers. PEOPLE WHO PAID $500 PLUS for priority service received no such thing and no communication as to what was going on and when they would get their passports back. UKVI you are trusting an incompetent company to handle immigration services. People have had to defer from their programs, spend extra money to hold their housing, and lose money on missed flights because of this. ALSO, they are blaming UKVI for the delays in their services as well.

When I looked at the date of my Visa it was approved and issued 31 August 2021. SO NO VFS my visa was clearly approved and sat on someone's desk for 2 weeks until I had to pay out of pocket to sit on the side of a street and beg for my own government document back. This is beyond unacceptable and I am considered lucky for even getting my passport. I met people there who had been there for DAYS still with no answers. People are desperate and there needs to be a swift change IMMEDIATELY.

Garbage processing time, Garbage customer service.
Garbage processing time, Garbage customer service.

First, the website is terrible and unintuitive and takes forever to do anything. Then, I submitted the application for my Global Talent Visa for the UK to the New York City office on August 23rd, my biometrics appointment (this was actually at ACS, which was a great, efficient experience, so I strongly recommend doing that) was on Thursday Sept 3rd and we paid an extra $200 to have 5 workday priority service. I'll first point out that the UK website says priority counts from when you submit the application, which would have been by Aug 28th, but VFS website says it's from when you have the biometrics appointment, which would have been by Sept 9th or 10th. There are many inconsistencies like this and they should be fixed. Even going by the later date, however, I did not receive my response and passport until Sept 23rd. VFS lost my UPS shipping return label with my GWF reference number on it and never told me and made me wait while trying to contact them, which is nearly impossible. VFS doesn't have a direct email or phone number for visas to the UK and the recommendations for tracking applications are a UK phone number, which can't be called from the US without an international plan, and an email. I contacted the email, but they do not have access to the status of the application. I even got an international plan and called the UK number and they refused the call saying they now are directing all calls to an email address, which responded saying they don't have information about individual applications. Through the original email I was able to find out is that the UK committee had made a decision on my application at least a week before VFS sent it to me and most likely much earlier, so it was fully VFS's fault for holding up my application. When I finally got through to VFS (I think they saw a tweet I sent to them through their customer service handle? Though they never actually responded there. Very strange), VFS said I had never sent them the label, I responded with clear proof and pictures that I had, and they then sort of admitted they had the label by using it to send my passport back to me... This delay made me miss my flight and now I'm starting work a week and a half late... I'm asking for the money I paid for priority service back, which I really hope they honor.