Immigration consultancy Five Star International warned on 14 October that UK Visa Application Centres (VACs) worldwide are now midway through a supplier switchover from TLScontact to VFS Global. The hand-over, which began in September 2024, has already reached Belgium and large parts of Africa and will complete in most remaining locations by early December. UK Visas & Immigration says the change will improve customer experience by cutting appointment times and reducing passport-collection waits to around 20 minutes. However, mixed-provider environments will persist for several weeks, meaning some applicants will book with TLScontact but attend a VFS centre — or vice-versa. Global mobility teams should audit any in-flight visa files to confirm which vendor is handling biometrics and document upload. Where applicants must reschedule appointments, a new ‘Mandatory User-Pay’ fee may apply; Five Star recommends requesting a refund of the original fee from TLScontact in such cases. HR teams should also alert travellers that VAC e-mails will now come from “@vfsglobal.com” to avoid phishing confusion and missed communications. Despite assurances that decision times and fees remain unchanged, corporates report sporadic appointment-slot shortages in high-volume markets such as Nigeria and Turkey during the cut-over. Contingency planning – including premium ‘prime time’ appointments or courier-return of passports – may be necessary for critical assignments over the year-end period.
Source: Five Star International
