Online Desk: VFS Global, which has been a partner of the UK government since 2003, has won the global contract for overseas UK visa and citizenship services.

This award is the latest in a long line of wins for the world’s leading visa, passport, and citizen services provider.

In 2024, VFS Global will deploy 240 Visa and Citizenship Application Service (VCAS) Centres for the UK in 142 countries across Africa and Middle East, Americas, Australasia and Europe, Asia and Asia Pacific regions including in Bangladesh.

These centres will accept all categories of visa applications as well as UK passport applications in some locations.

Combined, these new centres are estimated to process 3.8 million applicants every year.

Zubin Karkaria, founder and CEO of VFS Global, today said, “We are delighted to win this contract and expand our partnership with the Home Office to become their service provider for all UK visa customers overseas.”

Karkaria also said, “We are excited to begin operations in new locations, and to take the next step towards providing customers with a seamless, simple and secure visa and passport application experience. This win is a testament to our dedicated efforts to provide all our client governments with best-in-class services.”

Beyond the scale of the deployment, VFS Global will invest to improve the customer journey and increase accessibility, including through new customer websites and through updated in-person experiences, it said.

VFS Global will deploy its latest technologies to maintain robust identity checks and ensure the integrity of the visa and passport application process.

The UK is a popular destination for travellers from across the globe with India, China, Nigeria, and Turkey being the top four application locations.

This win comes soon after VFS Global was awarded the global biometric collection service mandate with Australia and renewal of the global visa service contract with Sweden.