Demand for at-home visa services increases by 20pc

DUBAI: VFS Global’s ‘Visa At Your Doorstep’ solution, which provides visa application services at the applicant’s home or office, has witnessed a 20 percent growth in demand from travellers, both from Middle East and within the UAE, in the first half of 2024.

This year, VFS Global added Bulgaria, Croatia and Japan to the list of countries it offers the service for.

The service entails trained professionals visiting the applicant’s preferred location to accept the documents and enrol biometrics and has been popular globally among corporate and student groups, providing convenience to those applying with a higher number of co-passengers.

However, this trend has recently been shifting towards families and individual travellers, with Dubai leading in demand from the UAE.

Monaz Billimoria, Regional Head, VFS Global, said, “The Visa At your Doorstep service witnessed an uptick in demand during the pandemic because of health and safety precautions, but today’s growing trend of families and individuals opting for Visa At Your Doorstep shows a shift in the traveller sentiment towards choosing comfort and convenience over cost. With demand for international travel ever-increasing, we look forward to providing all our customers best-in-class service.”

The Visa At Your Doorstep solution is an optional service and can be booked online on www.vfsglobal.com. Opting for this service does not have any bearing on the processing timeline or decision made on a visa application. This remains the sole prerogative of the respective client governments.

In the UAE, the service is available for Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Türkiye, Ukraine and UK visa services.