VFS Global, the leading visa outsourcing and technology partner for several governments and diplomatic missions worldwide, has achieved another milestone by processing a record 200 million visa applications. Set up in 2001, the company touched its first 100 million applications milestone in May 2015. Since then, the next 100 million applications were processed over a record four-year period. In 2018 alone, VFS Global processed 26.7 million applications globally – the most number of visa applications processed in any single year, registering a 16 per cent increase year-on-year. Zubin Karkaria, CEO, VFS Global Group, said "we take pride in this achievement of processing our 200 millionth visa application, with 100 million of these processed in a timespan of the last four years. We are grateful for the co-operation of the 62 client governments we serve – 18 of which were added in last four years, pointing to the trust and credibility we have built since we started this journey in 2001. We remain committed to further enhancing the overall ease and convenience in visa applications for our end customers through continued focus on developing innovative visa services." Even through its rapid expansion, the company has introduced game-changing visa solutions offering greater convenience, reliability and flexibility in service. Some of these are: Visa at Your Doorstep, Mobile Visa Application Centres, the first visa services chatbot ViVA among others- introduced in the recent years. In terms of the total visa market (both outsourced and non-outsourced), VFS Global's share is 15 per cent. Across the world, there are as many as 50 players catering to the visa outsourcing business, and together they hold a market share that is identical to VFS Global. VFS Global today has an unparalleled network of over 3,000 application centers with operations in 147 countries. The company started with a single client government and three visa application centers in a single country, India, in the year 2001. VFS Global continues to look for newer opportunities in the outsourcing space – in visas and citizen services, an emerging segment which holds a strong potential. The company has been successfully managing such high-volume large-scale identity and citizen programmes for governments of South Africa, Russia, India, the United Arab Emirates, and several African countries. These programs relate to migration and border management services such as resident permits, foreigner registration, driving licenses, birth certificates and shop licenses, e-passports, etc. The company also operates 78 centers providing Passport and Consular Services for four governments in 20 countries worldwide. — SG
