Visa Facilitation Services (VFS) Global, a third-party provider of visa and passport issuance services across the world, including Pakistan and India, appears to be encountering serious administrative and potential fraud concerns for the past two and a half years.
The international company, which has three main centers in Pakistan, is entrusted with facilitation for visa, passport, and consular services related to various non-European and Schengen countries such as the Netherlands (Holland) and Portugal.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, VFS Global Pakistan has limited the number of booking slots available for various types of visas for the Netherlands, including the Friends and Family visa and Tourist visa.
Despite relaxed COVID-related restrictions worldwide, VFS has continued to limit the number of visa appointment bookings offered on its website. This is despite a September 16 note on the company website stating the end of COVID-19 entry rules for travelers to the Netherlands, which followed a June 27 notification on the website about potentially longer waiting times for appointments and application processing, citing “a growing number of applicants” wishing to travel to the Netherlands after less stringent COVID-related travel restrictions worldwide.
“The number of available appointments will be expanded as soon as possible,” VFS said in its June 27 notice. “New appointment slots will be added to the online appointment system regularly.”
For an international company with “3395 application centers and operations in 144 countries across 5 continents,” such a problem should have been dealt with additional staff hiring and upgrading its technical resources to make sure new appointment slots are actually added to the online appointment system “regularly.”
However, VFS seems to have mightily failed with regard to staying true to those words and has cost a considerable amount of stress and despair amongst Pakistanis looking to travel to Schengen countries, like the Netherlands, for a period of over two years.
While booking slots typically remain unavailable through the month, a handful of slots randomly appear toward the end of a month following a wait of several weeks. However, the website becomes extremely buggy and fails to proceed to the payment page, randomly popping errors such as “selected booking slot day and/or time unavailable” and “too many attempts made,” requiring the user to log back in after two hours.
This misery ends within 24 hours as the booking slots that appear online (especially in the case of Visiting Family and Friends category) no longer appear after a day of “availability.”
VFS representatives over email and phone prefer to play this off as “limited slots due to growing demand for travel amid relaxed COVID-related restrictions.”
However, anonymous people in hundreds, if not thousands, are posing as VFS Global’s agents on social media platforms like Facebook and illegally selling visa appointments in various online groups for a hefty profit (often at least thrice the amount of the usual visa cost otherwise paid to VFS).
While VFS has previously posted notes of being wary of false promises of jobs or immigration on its website, the company seems to have done virtually nothing to prevent these fraudulent activities in countries like Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh despite clear evidence present online.
The lack of vigilance with regard to making appointment booking slots “regularly” available on its website has facilitated such online fraudsters and scammers.
This indifference on the part of VFS is alarming and online scammers apparently continuing to somehow acquire booking slots to sell at unreasonably high prices to travelers with the innocent intent to visit family and/or friends abroad or take a vacation to take their minds off the daily stress of work and life in general.
Needless to say, VFS’ poor online appointment booking infrastructure and inaction with regard to rampant illegal booking slots sales have made many genuine travelers question if VFS is actually facilitating fraud and setting up potential travelers for failure.
This, combined with the ease in COVID-related restrictions across pretty much all businesses and geographies, there is no reason why VFS should continue to require online bookings and it is high time they let people visit their centers and apply in person, as was the case before 2019 when people were required to directly apply at the offices.
Otherwise, the Netherlands embassy, along with other countries’ embassies, needs to take notice of this situation and just do away with VFS altogether, considering how poorly they are managing this mess.
Besides, their operators on the call regurgitate the same talking points about booking slots being system-generated and for users to just keep checking back for available appointments anyway (same as their unhelpful emails).
Many European governments have delegated their visa appointment bookings to VFS Global. Thousands of Pakistanis who intend to visit Europe are suffering because they are forced to get visa appointments after paying exorbitant fees to these “visa agents”, something which VFS Global continues to overlook.
It is hoped that European governments will look into this matter and will take strict action against the mafia selling visa appointments under the guise of VFS Global’s agents.
ProPakistani has contacted VFS in this regard and is awaiting an official response.
Oh my god! I am surprised this hasn’t been widely reported earlier. VFS Global is a mess! I myself have encountered all these annoying errors on their website each time I tried to book an appointment to no avail. Booking slots mostly remain unavailable anyway, as this article rightly points out. And I am so mad how scammers still manage to get a hold of appointments and shamelessly sell them online! Embassies need to act NOW!
Is this for real? I was hoping to book an appointment for a tourist visa for the Netherlands myself this month. I guess there’s no point even trying at this point if this is how VFS Global is going to treat us. Going to boycott these agencies.
That is appalling! I’m not even going to feed this monster now that I know what VFS Global is up to. Not even surprised the agent mafia is running the show so openly and without any repercussions. The Netherlands embassy and other schengen countries embassies definitely need to take action, fast.
Say NO to VFS Global!
We are also boycotting these looters! This is outrageous!!!
My own experience right now, I have applied for UK visa and already missed my conference. 20th Oct’22 is the last date of event and I am in Islamabad waiting to hear from VFS regarding my Visa. Only reason is that VFS global, on priority/premium service that is I paid extra service charges to accommodate with quick process.
It took VFS two weeks to process my application and later I found the priority charges is just for them to meet earlier, that $400, I had to pay another $220 to get my after submission.
They have made this a cut throat business.
At this point, I would rather take my family to US, where I already have 5 years visa rather than UK.
Yes is it real i was trying to apply spain visit visa but no appointment in systems , what are they doing actually , open one by one all date and agents already active on portal to hold appointments and when vfs open it . The slots already full even u cannot capture a signal appointment
This is perhaps the best explanation for what has been going on with VFS Global and this shameless agent mafia. Sounds like an organized scheme between them and use the same old excuse to serious travelers who complain. Schengen countries should just end their partnership with VFS Global and award visa processing to their respective embassies. Enough is enough!
You are on target here. The author of this article does not understands this basic concept. The solution is urging the Govt to take down on the quacks rather than reinvent the wheel.
Same is true for Italy appointments, I have been trying to apply for the last two months with no appointment slots available. So bizzare! Glad you wrote on this!
No dear how its possible appointments available some countries nor available I get for switzerland and I get visa within 10 working days need information +971545549750
Speak of the devil…
Absolutely true I applied for Schengen visa from KSA through VFS they took more then four months
I am no longer buying their excuse about no or less appointment booking slots available due to a sharp rise in post-Omicron travel demand. Here’s a suggestion, VFS Global, hire more staff and/or open in-person appointments! No excuse for you to lag behind when other businesses are keeping up with changing trends. I am sure that is going to at least deter the visa agent mafia, which there seems to be no shortage of..
No doubt the system is slow and abherrant..the staff/ helplines in Pakistan is quite rude and unresponsive at times..
Additionally there is no visa application update in months , even though they charge for application updates seperately :(
Dear Sir I lived in Turkey and I had came here in Pakistan 5 sep to apply for Netherlands tourism visa with my family. And I am trying since that day for appointment but VFS global staff continue sly telling me to pay paid appointment as soon as possible and demanding me 300 dollars. And unfortunately I have move back to Turkey because my vacations are going to finished.
No way anybody can get appointments on VFS, they are doing fraud very systematically. All concerned persons get paid secretly including Netherlands embassy. Invain to report anyone. I myself reported several time to authorities but nobody cares. At Last I paid 100000 for two appointments for Netherlands and with in 2 days I got appointment.
Absolutely true. I had to go through hell when booking my appointment for UK.
website is entirely useless while outside gerrys there is an endless line of touts demanding 40k per application application for a single application. RIDICULOUS!
I paid VFS fee for Austria visa ~150$ when visa cost for my country is 35 euros.
A family friend kept trying for a visa appointment slot. His travel agent arranged appointment within a week on an additional charge of Rs. 20,000/- per traveler.
I have a different story. I got appointment for Austria but they refused my application. I have nine stampped Schengen Visas in past twenty years alongwith visas of UK, Switzerland and other non schengen countries. My documentation was complete but they refused my visa on juat one day and I received back my passport in three days. This is happening only for Pakistan passport holders.
I tried to get an appointment for three months. But failed. While agents are giving appointments in 60000
Same goes for Austria, no appointment available since almost 20 days and the VSF personel replied on phone that we cannot help and talk about appointments. I tried almost every hour for 20 days but no appointments found. So i missed my important academic conference because of this. Embassy itself was very efficient prior to handing the visa service facility to VSF.
Same is the case with Italy aswell even worse. I wonder why no one is talking about it. I have to visit my family in Italy and I haven’t been able to get the appointment in last one year or so. I have even paid speed money to two different agents. Even Italian Embassy is directly not giving the appointments when ever you email them it gets bounced back and it has been happening for the last 2 years. Agents are demanding upto 1000 euros per appointment without giving any concrete timelines of the appointment.
Even Italian embassy staff is involved in this, as the issue has been highlighted to the ambassador but all in vain. I request Pro Pakistani to do an editorial on this as well.
So sorry to hear that. It seems like the situation is same even with the Portugal consulate in Islamabad, which asks people to directly send them email for an appointment at VFS. Seems like fraud and mafia is ruling everywhere in this country. So sad
No doubt vfs global is creating many problems. Not just Netherlands the same or worse is happening for italy study visa in Pakistan. Since 2020 the agent mafia started selling appointments for different visa categories for italy. After protests the embassy of italy got active and started giving appointments through online portals. But in 2021 the embassy stopped giving study visa appointments after giving a few, claiming they can’t bear the burden as afghan refugees are applying and they are priority. The same is happening in 2022. Embassy is delaying study visa appointments specifically claiming they have alot of afghan refugees to deal with. My question is why can’t they recruit more staff to address the issue and save precious academic years of students and if they are failing to do so then why are Italian universities giving admissions to Pakistani students and after paying non refundable tuition fees they get to know that they can’t even get a visa appointment. Also vfs global is already not giving any slot since 2021 for Italian visa appointments of all categories but the same vfs global is active in neighbouring countries esp. India and regularly issuing appointments. Agent mafia is active in Pakistan and are asking to pay them 2.50 lac to 3 lacs for appointments. Also karachi consulate is regularly issuing appointments for italy visas but only people from Sindh and Balochistan can apply there making the situation worse for the rest of Pakistanis. In other countries citizens of the same country can apply through any embassy or consulate but strange rules are being implemented here in Pakistan. propakistani.pk please take a notice on this issue and save the future and efforts of Pakistani students.
Sincerely,
A Pakistani student with uncertain future
tobah
It is clear that these shameless VFS Global scammers are in cahoots with the visa agent mafia. I, along with my friends and family, have decided not to feed this ugly monster and NO WAY are we going to pay an extra penny to assist these looters. If it means abandoning our plans to travel to places like the Netherlands, so be it! We’ll just book appointments for France, Germany, and Spain to get there just so that we don’t have to deal with this nonsense!
Slots are occupied by vfs employees. I went to vfs islamabad and i asked a tout for portugal appointment. He called someone who works there, and told me that i can get an appointment of next month for 20k.
Oh my god! I have sent Portugal Islamabad consulate an email and have been waiting for them to confirm my appointment since a week now. I really don’t want to pay a tout for this. What is this system coming down to..
It’s a legit problem, their appointment systems have been over burdened. I know this because I am unable to find appointments for germany aswell and their online appointment system is handled by the embassy itself.
That is no excuse for a buggy website ridden with ridiculous errors and that too barely once a month when appointment booking slots are made available, presumably for their beloved touts and agents. If they were really burdened, they would commit the money they charge people. Toward hiring more staff and upgrading their online systems to cater to the “sharp increase in post-Omicron travel demand” they keep talking about like a broken record. Also, agents shamelessly selling them booking slots online does not help their case.
Vfs staff and their agents openly selling appointments. I tried for an appointment since three months but so for didn’t get the appointment on their website
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Lo ji idhar bhi aagaya. Is se in bay sharmon ki bay baaqi ka andaaza laga lain. VFS Global nay kitni khuli choot day rakhi hai is mafia ko. Aakhir in ke apnay hi chailay hain.
As some others in this comment section pointed out, please do not pay these third-party “agents” posing as VFS Global representatives or otherwise just selling appointments to you. They are most definitely scammers and fraudsters, and would simply rob you of your money in most cases without even giving you that appointment they may be charging twice or thrice the price for. It is unfortunate, but since VFS Global seems to not care about any of this and may even be facilitating these agents for a hefty profit, just consider avoiding VFS altogether and travel to a country that does NOT involve VFS at all. Paying this mafia for your short-term benefit only makes it stronger and harder to beat. Ignore and avoid them, and maybe the Schengen embassies will consider abandoning agencies like VFS and their affiliates to take matters in their own hands. Peace!
VFS Global has proved itself to be a Scam!
Same thing it was happen with in VFS Bangladesh website.
This is why I choose to submit visa application countries that don’t outsource VFS Global.
Please do share which countries, especially Schengen European countries, those are. I would like nothing more at this point than to avoid these group of scammers and fraudsters ie. VFS Global.
How to apply italy visa oppintment
True facts, highly apprieciated.
Mafias like VFS Global knows that Pakistan is the country where no checks and balance, so this is heaven of Mafias who knows how to earn money in this part of the world. No solution, things will be the remain same forever.