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“You have a shoulder with a photo, you have to remake it”, “The ear is not exposed, it is unqualified”, “Today the ordinary number is gone, the VIP number can be signed”…

Friends who have been to the Visa Center must be familiar with the above statement. Applying a popular phrase is “the long history of the Visa Center.”

Preparing for National Day to go to Iceland to see Aurora is less than originally intended to resolutely not bow to the Visa Center and directly sign to the Icelandic Consulate, but was told that visas can only be processed through the Danish Visa Center. The five Visa Centers only open 26 per day. The number of appointments, after several unsuccessful appointments, was less than 350 yuan VIP fee and 280 yuan service fee, and got a visa one week later.

But it’s less fortunate. After all, many people have experienced the beginning of the article in the visa center. If they don’t receive more than ten items, they are embarrassed to say that they have already applied for a visa: the photo must be unqualified. The translation must be unqualified, the application form must be wrong, the SMS notification, the passport can not be picked up, only the express delivery… Each of the reasons for rejecting the material says the words “pay the money”, no matter how well you prepare, the visa There are 100 ways for the center to spend more.

What is the existence of the Visa Center? Why dare to pay a blatant fee?

Monopoly business

There is no visa center in the world. There are many visa holders. The manpower of the consulate is difficult to handle. Only when the visa business is outsourced, the first to find business opportunities is Indians.

If you are applying for a Schengen or UK visa, you can’t avoid the VFS and BLS visa centers. In fact, not only in China, the two Indian companies monopolize the visa business in many countries around the world.

The VFS, established in 2001, has convinced the US government to establish a visa center for Indian applicants in Mumbai. It has won 62 government customers worldwide and opened more than 2,800 visa centers in 141 countries and regions. 50% share of the outsourcing market.

The BLS, which is four years behind VFS, started with the Portuguese consulate in Delhi. It currently has 37 government clients and more than 2,300 visa centers in 62 countries.

The phenomenon of these two fare increase charges is not only for the Chinese, but for the people of all countries to “disregard the same”. Foreign netizens do not spit on the visa center much less than the Chinese.

All is a routine

Under various clever names, VFS and BLS naturally earn a lot of money.

Although the right to issue visas belongs to the consulates of various countries, according to the Schengen visa requirements, tourists can also directly sign to the consulate, but in practice, most tourists can only apply through the visa center, plus the visa business of each country will only Outsourced to an institution, the Visa Center actually formed a monopoly monopoly, and it was natural and straightforward to collect the fees.

How high is the fee for the Visa Center? The families are not hidden, and the official website is clearly priced. The VFS agent’s UK visa is used as an example. Some additional services are as follows:

Photo, 40 yuan / person

Copy: 2 yuan / page

Express: 80 yuan / person

SMS notification: 20 yuan / person

Fast Channel (VIP): 250 yuan / person

Confirm basic documents: 160 yuan / person

It is an additional service that is voluntarily chosen, but when it comes to the Visa Center, it is impossible for you. Among them, photography, express delivery, SMS notification, and fast track are the most criticized projects.

Photography charges are not much, 40 yuan, so that tourists are dissatisfied with almostSome photos prepared in advance will be rejected by the Visa Center for various reasons, and can only be retaken on the spot.

If the cost of photography is reasonable, the 20-yuan SMS notification and the 70-yuan courier are the scams, and are not willing to pay? You will be told that you can only go to the Visa Center to check the progress of the visa center after 15 working days. It is impossible to take it by yourself. It is impossible in this life. The same address of a family of three must also be negotiated according to the head charge.

With the long waits on the spot and the “intimidation and temptation” of the staff, most of you who lose patience will also save money to buy a VIP to end this torture.

In the face of the monopoly of the Visa Center, can we only recognize it?

Electronic or crackable chaos

The visa center’s charges have been around for a long time, but tourists are dissatisfied with dissatisfaction, are in a weak position, and are in a situation of information asymmetry and demanding people. Most of them are unwilling to entangle too much in this matter, so not long ago After the Xinhua News Agency and the World Wide Web successively exposed the situation of the Visa Center, it caused a huge resonance among consumers who had been swallowing for a long time. The Visa Center not only became the target of the public, but also successfully attracted the attention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The embassy and consulate will understand the situation.”

Schengen countries may not be unaware of the routines for fancy center fees. As we said earlier, there are more than one charge, but several major visa service providers have this phenomenon, and there are many complaints in various countries. This year, BLS’s visa center in the UK is causing public anger because of chaotic charges. It was alarmed by lawmakers and lawyers asking the government to investigate and eventually forcing its superior contractor Sopra Steria to cancel its cooperation.

The original intention of the Visa Center was to improve the efficiency of the consulate and to facilitate tourists, but now it has become a tool for visa service providers to reap the tourists. This also destroys the image of the destination country because of the visa. Visitors who have spent money on the center are hard not to have a psychological shadow or a bad first impression on the country.

So, do we only have a share of ordinary tourists? It is a way to bypass the Visa Center and make an appointment directly to the Consulate, but it is not valid for each country’s consulate, not to mention the EU’s June approval of Schengen Visa Amendment has removed the mandatory requirement for the consulate that has established a visa center to be accepted by the applicant, not to mention the official website of some national consulates. A bad IT system is enough to persuade a DIY applicant.