British High Commission to charge use of Visa Application Centre

The British High Commission in Lilongwe will from March 31 this year begin to charge K39 530 (59 euro) for the usage of the Visa Application Centre.

In a statement yesterday, the High Commsion said the fee is in addition to the visa fee and will be charged at the point of booking the appointment.

“We recognise that currently customers applying for UK [United Kingdom] Visas in Malawi do not pay an additional fee to use the Visa Application Centre in Lilongwe. The charge being implemented is solely to cover the costs of operating in these locations and the cost of the return courier service directly back to the customer.

“Our new commercial partner, Teleperformance Limited, will take over the running of our Visa Application Centre [VAC] in Lilongwe. They have subcontracted to the current supplier—FedEx —so there will be no change in the day-to-day management of the VAC,” reads the statement.

According to the statement, the new service will facilitate a more streamlined process, enabling applications to be transferred between the VAC and the decision-making hub in Pretoria more quickly and efficiently.

“The completed applications, which will include all supporting documentation and the customer’s passport, will then be forwarded to the decision-making centre in Pretoria,” reads the statement.