I am in the travel industry for the last 37 years and have grown old and grey processing visas of x number of countries. Post pandemic, its become an uphill task to fill the jigsaw puzzle called visa form and the wait time to get an appointment. As mentioned by you, the beggers (VFS) on behalf of the UK government want money if they have open their mouths at every turn and express their monumental ignorance when asked about status. Its frustrating to explain the situation to clients. Now have decided to travel and do visas for countries giving e- visa or SE Asian countries..
Britain is close to a failed state, nostalgically pretending to be a world power.
The other day, it proudly sent out its aircraft carrier, just to discover the ship could only use one propeller - turning around in circles, that is. Top secret defense documents were left to rot at a bus station. And on and on it goes.
England - as it soon will be - is off my travel plans, just like the US.
just to put it on record: i wrote to The Bulletin in Brussels in the very early 2000s (when it was still a widely-read print magazine) complaining about a friend's experience. i had gone with her to the UK consular section - it wasn't 'outsourced' yet - and she was outraged by all the stuff she, as a middle-aged permanent resident in Schengen who happened to carry a developing-country passport, was asked to provide for the privilege of taking a 2-hour train journey to London. all hell broke loose, the ambassador replied to them the next week saying they were more than happy to take into account support from UK passport holders (whatever that means in practice), and they got some other diplomat to write to me directly at home. of course, nothing changed.
While the underlying nature of the system is clear as you write, would your particular experience have been different if England had not left the EU since you are a resident now of an EU country?
Sad to see British racism still lives on, now hidden behind technological barriers...Good of you to publish your esperience, lets hope it gets some attention
I'm sad (but a little pleased) to see that the UK is closing the downward gap with Italy, my home country.
I am in the travel industry for the last 37 years and have grown old and grey processing visas of x number of countries. Post pandemic, its become an uphill task to fill the jigsaw puzzle called visa form and the wait time to get an appointment. As mentioned by you, the beggers (VFS) on behalf of the UK government want money if they have open their mouths at every turn and express their monumental ignorance when asked about status. Its frustrating to explain the situation to clients. Now have decided to travel and do visas for countries giving e- visa or SE Asian countries..
Britain is close to a failed state, nostalgically pretending to be a world power.
The other day, it proudly sent out its aircraft carrier, just to discover the ship could only use one propeller - turning around in circles, that is. Top secret defense documents were left to rot at a bus station. And on and on it goes.
England - as it soon will be - is off my travel plans, just like the US.
just to put it on record: i wrote to The Bulletin in Brussels in the very early 2000s (when it was still a widely-read print magazine) complaining about a friend's experience. i had gone with her to the UK consular section - it wasn't 'outsourced' yet - and she was outraged by all the stuff she, as a middle-aged permanent resident in Schengen who happened to carry a developing-country passport, was asked to provide for the privilege of taking a 2-hour train journey to London. all hell broke loose, the ambassador replied to them the next week saying they were more than happy to take into account support from UK passport holders (whatever that means in practice), and they got some other diplomat to write to me directly at home. of course, nothing changed.
While the underlying nature of the system is clear as you write, would your particular experience have been different if England had not left the EU since you are a resident now of an EU country?
Sad to see British racism still lives on, now hidden behind technological barriers...Good of you to publish your esperience, lets hope it gets some attention