Comfortably lounging on a royal blue sofa with my file beside me, I looked up at an uncle who took the seat in front of me. I smiled at him but he avoided eye contact. This amused me. We Indians pride ourselves in our hospitality and yet we tend to avoid each other. The same people will travel abroad and smile and be friendly with absolute strangers but treat other Indians in the room with mild hostility.
I shrugged and took in my surroundings. I was in the premium lounge of VFS Global, Mahalakshmi, Mumbai. It was fairly quiet though there were quite a few people. Maybe because the hall was so huge. There was a little play area for kids, which was a great idea. Kids would have been bored out of their minds during the visa process.
A well-dress woman approached me, “I’m sorry, there’s around 10-15 minutes wait before your turn. The Irish visa takes longer to process than most other countries and we’re just finishing up with two customers before you.” I told her I didn’t mind. “UK visa is the easiest,” she laughed and looked at the man sitting across me. He finally smiled and nodded at her. Is that so? I made a mental note of what she said.
She asked a gentleman to serve me some tea and biscuits while I waited. Happily munching on chocolate cookies, I wondered how long I’d have had to wait if I had taken a regular visa appointment.
This was actually not my first time in the premium lounge. I had used it once before when I came for my Italy visa. On that day, I literally just walked in, submitted the documents and was done even before they served tea.
Another time, I was forced to use the premium lounge with my family for our Spain visa at BLS Spain (a different company from VFS Global). If you take a regular appointment, they give you only a 15-minute slot to submit your documents. If anything is missing and you cannot produce it within that time, and I mean even if you’re 2 minutes late, they will ask you to reschedule or use the premium lounge. We didn’t want to reschedule so we had no choice but to pay for the lounge.
But anyway, I was quite happy with the service at VFS Global. When my turn came, I was well attended to. My documents were pretty much in order. There were some missing copies for which I went down to the regular waiting room. Man, was it crowded! I quickly got my copies for free and submitted everything. Biometrics were taken in an adjacent room, I made the payment and was done.
On my way out, I passed many senior citizens, having their refreshments. The lounge would probably be most beneficial for seniors who need help and lesser waiting time. Those who have trouble with English can be assisted and businessmen, whose time is money, would also prefer this.
Of course, it costs almost Rs. 2,500 extra for the service but I think it was worth it. It took me only an hour in the morning so I could easily return to my work for the day. Though, I guess it would be heavy on the pocket if an entire family used the service because one has to pay for each member. However, for someone spending lakhs of rupees on foreign travel, another 2k per person wouldn’t be so bad for quality service.
Overall, I think it was worth it. So, I would definitely recommend taking the premium lounge if you can afford it and don’t want to waste time.
Just remember though, that even if we take the premium lounge, it does not expedite the visa processing. VFS Global only collects the documents and submits them to the appropriate embassies. It is then up to the embassy to provide the visa.
Happy journey!
Disclaimer: The views expressed in the above content is purely based on the writer’s personal experience. It is not an advertisement for any product or service.