According to An Inspection of UK Visas and Immigration Front End Services report published on 25 November 2021, it was revealed that appointments at visa centres in the UK were regularly unavailable.
Attempts by the Home Office to maintain free of charge appointments despite outsourcing have “not yet been achieved,” according to David Neal. As a result, migrants are being subjected to an additional “financial burden” only to complete the mandatory biometric process, despite having already paid a substantial amount for the application itself.
Senior managers at the Home Office recognised that the shortage of free appointments was a critical issue and stated they were working on improvements, according to the report. It was revealed that starting from November 2021, there will be an increase in both free appointments and improved availability of both paid and free appointments across the whole UKVCAS service. According to the Sopra Steria website, free appointments have been available at all locations since November 1st.
According to the Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigrations, these adjustments should result in an additional 5,000 free appointments every month.
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