From 15 October 2024, UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services (UKVCAS) are no longer provided by Sopra Steria UK. TLScontact has taken over the running of UKVCAS.
For clarity, commercial partners are commercial organizations to whom Home Office outsources the biometric appointments & documents collection from visa applicants and forwarding them to Home Office UKVI.
We previously published an article on changes to commercial partners and this current article is a continuation on the same topic.
Problems applicants may face due to the change in commercial partner inside the UK
There are a number of issues that applicants submitting their applications from inside the UK may face as a result of the switch from Sopra Steria to TLS.
- lack of appointments available at short notice (nearest free appointment may be in a month);
- delay in Home Office decision due to delayed biometrics;
- delay your planned travel overseas to avoid withdrawal of your pending application;
- extra money to book earlier paid appointment (often available sooner than free ones).
Applications inside the UK
The commercial partner for UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services changed from Sopra Steria to TLScontact on 15 October 2024.
Appointment availability may be limited for a short period of time. It is important to factor this in when planning your travel outside the UK.
This change should not affect:
- the decision on your application
Locations changing commercial partner for UK visa applications outside UK
You can check which locations have already changed commercial partner.
From 5 November, VFS Global will operate visa application centres in these locations:
- Cyprus (North)
- France
- Iraq
- Israel
- Jordan
- Kazakhstan
- Kyrgyzstan
- Lebanon
- the Occupied Palestinian Territories
- Tajikistan
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- Uzbekistan
From 19 November, VFS Global will operate visa application centres in these locations:
- Angola
- Botswana
- Cameroon
- Egypt
- Ethiopia
- Malawi
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Nigeria
- Rwanda
- Senegal
- Sierra Leone
- Tanzania
- Turkmenistan
- Uganda
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
