All South African passport holders who are looking at going to the United Kingdom (That’s England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales) have to apply for UK visa to do so. This visa grants South Africans permission to enter the UK (subject to meeting their Entry Clearance criteria).
To answer a common question that our clients raise, we have taken the liberty to explain “Who VFS is and what does one do to submit a visa application“.
VFS have been appointed by the BHC to act as a front of house courier service for UK visa applications. VFS actually stands for Visa Facilitation Service.
Today I personally went on a fact finding mission, where we approached Cape Town’s VFS as if we were going to apply for the settlement visa (being married to a British passport holder). Truth be told, I am engaged to wed a British passport holder in March 2012. Back to our fact finding expedition though:
VFS has offices located around South Africa. Take a look at our sister website: UK V 4 SA – VAC’s in SA
Cape Towns VFS has 9 counters available and those counters have broken the visa submission process into 4 stages. Namely:
Stage 1 – Collect Queue Ticket Number
Stage 2 – Submit Supporting Documents
Stage 3 – Biometric submission Booth
Stage 4 – Application Collection
Further to these counters, VFS also offer a photocopy service as well as a computer with internet access (for those that have to still complete the Visa4UK online application).
When I asked the friendly consultants about the supporting documents, they kindly pointed me to the UKBA website where all the applicable information can be found. This forwarding is because VFS are appointed to only provide courier service.
I tried to get more information and asked what type of supporting documents are needed. The consultant gave me the basics of relationship details, accommodation arrangements and confirmation of employment. The VFS consultant left out one of the most important documents though, meeting the compulsory English ability criteria.
Make no mistake VFS offer professional and friendly service when it comes to submission of supporting doucments. I must however emphasize that South Africans are recommended not to take their immigration advise as a reliable source.
So if you have technical related queries, please feel free to contact us.