I’d expect most people on NG have had to deal with VFS a few times in their lives.
Not that it’s any compliment, but VFS is still better than trying to deal with Portugal’s AIMA 
- the company has continued to process visas for every EU country except Spain, according to its website.
- According to the current and former employees across multiple countries interviewed by Lighthouse Reports, VFS has built a system of aggressive — and at times dishonest — upselling. Staff are typically paid low base salaries, with bonuses tied to meeting monthly sales targets for add-on services.
- One visa officer at VFS in Nigeria, who was granted anonymity over fear of retaliation, said the bonuses for selling value-added services for U.K. visas could amount to almost twice the base salaries of contractors. He said contractors make up the majority of the VFS workforce and are paid a little more than €125 per month. The result, he said, is constant pressure to sell.
- Five former employees also said it was common for staff to include SMS and courier services on customer bills without their consent. “Most customers would just accept this,"
- Between 2017 and 2024, VFS more than quadrupled its operating profits from 36 million Swiss francs to 161 million Swiss francs (€31 million to €172 million), while its revenues more than doubled. The increase far outpaced growth in the number of applications handled by the company, which rose by just 15 percent over the same period.
- Five EU countries reported that in some markets, bots or external agents block-book free appointments and sell them on, leaving genuine applicants unable to secure appointments.
- Iman Raziq, a U.K.-based lawyer, said a “glitch” on VFS’s website made it difficult to upload documents, pushing applicants to pay the company to scan them.
- EU governments acknowledge it is difficult to hold VFS to account, given the lack of alternatives and reduced staffing at consulates that once handled the administrative work.