VFS GLOBAL

[Ted]

I came across this bit of news on the UKBA website:

07 December 2012

The UK Border Agency are working with VFS Global, our commercial partner, to open a visa application centre in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in the middle of January 2013.

The visa application centre in Ho Chi Minh City will provide an enhanced level of customer service, be able to accept all types of applications and offer additional services, like priority visa appointments and will be able to cope with increased demand. The visa application centre will have longer opening hours and you will be able to collect your decisions and documents.

You will need to pay an additional fee as well as the normal visa application fee if you wish to use this service. You will still be able to apply in Hanoi without paying a fee.

To allow for IT and staff preparation, The UK Border Agency at the Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City are no longer offering new appointments.

If you need to apply before the opening of the new visa application centre, you should select Hanoi as your location when making an appointment and travel to Hanoi to submit your visa application. If you already have an appointment confirmed in Ho Chi Minh City, you can still submit your application at the UK Border Agency in Ho Chi Minh City. If you do not meet the current requirements, you will be asked to travel to Hanoi to submit your application.



Does anybody know about this company and what their fee,s are etc.

Im hoping I will avoid the trip to Hanoi to submit settlement visa.

[Lucapooka]

She will still have to go to Hanoi as that is where the Visa Application Center will be located.

[Ted]

She will still have to go to Hanoi as that is where the Visa Application Center will be located.

Lucapooka its says : The UK Border Agency are working with VFS Global, our commercial partner, to open a visa application centre in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in the middle of January 2013.

The visa application centre in Ho Chi Minh City will provide an enhanced level of customer service, be able to accept all types of applications....

Im sure the application will end up in Hanoi, but maybe they will check the applications in HCMC and then send them by post to Hanoi.

Ive emails VFS, and they promise to reply in 2 international business days.

I wonder if they will also do the biometric in HCMC as well.

[Lucapooka]

Ted, I misread your question. I thought the new VAC was opening in Hanoi and it was going to be the first and one and only VAC in Vietnam (and to be used in the future instead of dealing directly with the consulate). If there is a new VSC opening in HCNC she can go there instead of Hanoi.

[Ted]

If there is a new VSC opening in HCNC she can go there instead of Hanoi.

I really hope so, cant understand why they wont except settlement visa applications in HCMC, they take other visa applications, having to travel upto Hanoi with the wife and newborn will be an effort and an expense.
Ive been the the consulate a few times in HCMC, always empty, staff mostly sitting around doing nothing.

Anyway I will publish the response from VFS global if they respond

[Ted]

For your Information.






Thank you for contacting the UK Border Agency’s Visa Enquiries mailbox in Vietnam.
The VFS Global is likely to be opened some time at the end of January 2013. It will have the capacity to accept all kinds of visa categorised applications so the settlement applicants would not need to travel to Hanoi. Please could you kindly note that extra fee for VFS service will be charged (but compared to flight ticket to Hanoi, it’s still cheaper).

Yours sincerely

Correspondence Unit
Vietnam

[Lucapooka]

Ted, you may be misreading the information you are getting on the website. VACs don't charge fees for normal applications; the visa fee to the UKBA is the full and final amount. They offer optional additional services that are chargeable. If your wife makes a straightforward application (does not want any priority treatment or home delivery, whatever) she should not be charged any additional fees by the VAC in HCMC.

[Ted]

Ted, you may be misreading the information you are getting on the website. VACs don't charge fees for normal applications; the visa fee to the UKBA is the full and final amount. They offer optional additional services that are chargeable. If your wife makes a straightforward application (does not want any priority treatment or home delivery, whatever) she should not be charged any additional fees by the VAC in HCMC.

Lucapooka, if my wife does not use this company to submit the application, she will have to fly to Hanoi from HCMC to submit, so it will be cheaper to pay the extra fee than pay an air fare plus hotel etc.

Anyway the company doing the service for the UKBA are VFS global, not sure if they have any connection to VAC.

[Franko]

Im sure the application will end up in Hanoi, but maybe they will check the applications in HCMC and then send them by post to Hanoi.

Actually there is no visa processing in Hanoi, Bangkok is the regional hub for Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. all applications made in Vietnam either Hanoi or HCMC are sent to Bangkok for porcessing.