UK shifts Thai visas to India

In June this year, United Kingdom Visa & Immigration will relocate its visa decision-making centre for Thai nationals from Bangkok to New Delhi in India.

The embassy claimed there will be no changes to the visa application process in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, or to overall service times.

The move is to maximise new technology and allow for independent visa decision-making, the British embassy announced yesterday.

The embassy said that the move to New Delhi will maximise the benefits of new technology that allows for visa-decision making to be “independent of the country of application”.

It did not state if any problems had emerged in the decision-making processes at the VFS-Global centres in Bangkok and Chiang Mai to spur the move to New Delhi.

The embassy simply said: “It will drive efficiency savings and achieve greater standardisation of visa decisions around the world.”

Applicants in Thailand will see no change to visa service standards and can still apply for visas online and submit their biometrics and documents at the two visa application centres managed by VFS-Global, the embassy added.

According to its website, VFS Global, which was originally launched in India, is the largest outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions worldwide.

Many consulates now outsource visa processing to outside vendors, including the UK. In 2007, VFSGlobal won its first global account from UK Visa & Immigration for operations across 33 countries.