It would appear that the UK Visa system is taking advantage of travellers.
Travellers applying for UK visas at TLS Contact in Johannesburg have reported difficulty finding rational visa appointment slots, and finding themselves forced to pay a premium to work around the situation.
The owner of a prominent travel agency told Travel News: "My client went to TLS Contact Johannesburg for a UK visa appointment recently and was told there were only Premium slots available, so he had to pay an extra R2 010 (they quote R1 990 on the TLS Contact website). He was told there were no standard appointments available and yet when he arrived for his appointment, there were no other applicants waiting for appointments (he sent me a photo of the queue). When he asked the receptionist why he had to pay for a premium appointment she told him that TLS Contact wasn’t opening up the normal slots. So, TLS Contact is forcing people to pay extra for premium appointments.”
Anton Marsh, Managing Director of Now Media, applied for UK visas for his family at TLS Contact Johannesburg. “There do not seem to be any slots open for families. We couldn’t find slots for standard appointments for the family together so we booked separate appointments. All four of us arrived together for the earliest appointment, and the attendant told me that the three of us who were ahead of our appointment time would need to pay extra for a premium appointment – R1 990 each. Our kids had been taken out of school for the morning and it made no sense that we each had to come in for separate appointments to get our visas. I paid just under R6 000 just for the premium appointments.”
Said Marsh: “I was outraged. I spoke to a supervisor who said that they would refund the children’s appointments, because children have to come in to apply with their parents. But, if I had not questioned it, the full charge would have gone through. The fact that TLS doesn’t open appointments and then charges extra for parents with children is ridiculous. I have heard of two other similar incidents with people closely connected to me, which suggests this seems to be a normal occurrence, and the system is taking advantage of South African travellers. The British High Commission must investigate incidents like this and should be making sure TLS’s behaviour is in line with UK policy.”
Another Now Media employee applying for a visa for his child had a similar experience. His wife was charged an extra R1 990 when she took their son to her appointment. However, they have not yet complained and applied to have this refunded.
Another friend of Marsh’s said he found that he had to have a single document added to his application. TLS Contact told him that this meant it had become an “assisted application” rather than a standard online application, and then levied an additional charge of R1 990 just to add the document.
Marsh said: “The visa application process is already one where the applicant has little power and general anxiety. It is unacceptable to force travellers into the situation in which they have to cough up a lot of money when they have little recourse, and communication from the authorities is non-existent.”
Lucy Saint-Antonin, Head of Communications & Marketing at TLS Contact told Travel News that she had talked to local colleagues about these issues.
“As I’m sure you will understand, we cannot comment on the individual cases that you reference in your questions. However, we can confirm that standard appointments are available within five working days at all our South African UK visa application centres.
“Charges on the TLS Contact website are R699 for assisted service; prime time appointments cost R1 990.
“The visa fee and service fee are both non-refundable and non-transferable if the visa application is denied by Embassy staff or if the applicant decides to terminate his or her application.”
Despite numerous phone calls, Travel News has been unable to reach a supervisor in charge at TLS Contact Johannesburg.
