The UK government is changing its commercial visa partners worldwide. These changes are being rolled out gradually and they might affect travellers who are currently applying for an UK visa. However, travellers applying for an ETA will not be concerned by these changes.
New commercial visa providers
Until recently, the company TLScontact was the UK inmigration services' main commercial parter for the management of many visa application centers in the UK and abroad. However, the Immigration Services have recently made public that they will soon start to collaborate with other partners. In the coming months, the management of several visa application centers abroad will be transferred to VFS Global, the global leader in the sector. This process should be completed by January 2025. In addition, visa application centers in the UK will also have a new business partner. Until October 2024, the company VFS Global was responsible for managing visa application centers in the country. TLScontact has now taken over these visa centers.
Visa application centers will change ownership gradually
Between September 2024 and January 2025, UK visa application centers abroad will change ownership. VFS Global will manage visa application centres in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. The change of service provider will be implemented in two phases, depending on the country.
As of 22 October 2024, VFS Global will start its services in several African countries, including Algeria, Kenya, South Africa and Morocco. The second phase will begin on November 5, 2024, and it will mainly concern countries in the Middle East, but also several European countries like France and Cyprus.
Consequences for visa applicants
Travellers who have recently applied for an UK visa will be notified by email about how to proceed. It is important to emphasize that the change of service provider will not have an impact on the application process, and it will not affect deadlines for document submission, either. Applicants who had already made an appointment simply have to go to the same visa application center. It will now be managed by a different company.
No impact on the UK ETA
In October 2023, the UK introduced a new electronic travel document: the UK ETA . It is already mandatory for certain nationalities to apply for the ETA UK. However, the ETA system will not be fully operational until April 2025. From then on, citizens from other European countries will also have to apply for the ETA if they travel to the UK.
It should be underlined that the change of business parter for the processing of visa applications will only affect travellers who apply for a traditional paper visa. Travellers applying for an ETA will not be concerned by this measure. This means that, from April 2025, the UK ETA will be the fastest and cheapest way to obtain a travel authorisation to the UK.