Surging cost of UK visa appointments in wake of coronavirus leaving families without legal documentation

Source: Independent – UK, 22/07/2020

UK visa centres are run by private firm Sopra Steria, after the
company took on a Home Office contract last year. While applicants
could previously go to their local post office to provide
biometric data such as fingerprints free of charge, they now
attend one of six “core centres” across the country which offer a
free service, or another 51 which usually charge a fee starting
from £69.99.
All visa application centres within the UK closed in late March in
response to the coronavirus pandemic. Sopra Steria announced at
the end of May that a phased reopening of visa centres was to
begin on 1 June, though it said the service was operating at a
“lower capacity than usual”, with fewer service points open across
the country.
While the centres have been closed, many visa applicants â€`
including refugees who are required to apply for leave to remain
after being in the UK for five years â€` have been unable to proceed
with their applications, leaving them in a “state of limbo” and in
some cases unable to access state support, according to lawyers.
Since visa centres have started to reopen, immigration solicitors
say they have struggled to find free appointments at the six core
centres on Sopra Steria’s online booking system, while the paid-
for options are charging considerably more than normal.
In one case, a Japanese man had to pay £440 to submit his wife and
children`s biometrics for their application for indefinite leave
to remain, as the only appointments they could find at the Croydon
centre â€` one of the “core” facilities â€` were £110 each.
Immigration adviser Anton Koval, from the Legal Centre, who has
been aiding the family, said: “They had already paid a few
thousand pounds for the immigration fees for five people. They
didn’t want to wait long as the time they had to submit the
biometrics was running out. It’s totally unfair. It’s
profiteering.”
In another case, a family of seven who arrived in the UK in
February 2020 on a family reunion visa, to join their refugee
father, had to travel from Liverpool to Birmingham in early July
in order to attend a free appointment, because it was the only one
available and they couldn’t afford to pay the £770 â€` £110 each â€`
for a slot more locally. A charity paid for their train fare and
provided face masks for the journey.
Judith Carter, lecturer and in-house solicitor at the University
of Liverpool Law Clinic, who is representing the family, said it
took her 10 days to find a free appointment for the clients, and
that in order to do so she had to log onto Sopra Steria’s booking
website at 1am.
She said: “This family has had to wait an additional four months
to submit their biometrics because of lockdown, and then they had
the cost of travel to Birmingham, plus the cost to the local
council supporting them and the charity supporting them. It’s not
just the cost, it’s also forcing a large family to wander about on
public transport during a pandemic. It’s needless.
“Sopra Steria is prioritising the paid appointments over the free
appointments. Profit is prioritised over people who the UK has an
international obligation to support and welcome.”
David Pountney, senior solicitor at Greater Manchester Immigration
Aid Unit (GMIAU), said he had been logging onto the booking
website late at night and early in the morning in a bid to find
free appointments since visa centres started to reopen, but had
only managed to find one.
He said most of his clients couldn’t afford to pay for
appointments, leaving them “stuck in limbo” for a prolonged
period, and in some cases without access to any public services
and at risk of destitution.
“Some of them who had no status before are still stuck with no
right to access anything. The decision has usually been made and
they’re just waiting for the fingerprints to issue the card to
prove it. They could’ve had recourse to public funds months ago,
and during this time in particular it’s really needed,” he added.

The limited number of free appointments available are almost one
month in advance (UKVAS.co.uk)
Sonia Lenegan, legal director at the Immigration Law
Practitioners’ Association (ILPA), said the organisation had been
raising the fact that people were unable to access free
appointments to register their biometrics with the Home Office
“for weeks now”, but that nothing had changed.
She added: “It was entirely foreseeable that once the centres
opened up again that there would be a backlog of people who needed
these appointments, and availability was a problem even before the
pandemic.”
A Sopra Steria spokesperson said: “We recognise it has been a
difficult time for people unable to access appointments because of
the global pandemic.”
They said the company had made “significant progress” in reducing
the number of customers waiting for an appointment and that, under
direction from the Home Office, it was working to release as many
new appointments as possible while considering the safety of
customers and staff.
The spokesperson added: “During this time, we have continued to
make more than half of our appointments at core sites available
for free, between 9am-7pm Monday to Friday. As expected, there has
been unprecedented demand for these free appointments and
customers with urgent or exceptional cases can contact UK Visas
and Immigration (UKVI) using the Coronavirus Immigration Team
helpline.”
Home Office facing investigation for breach of law over outsourced
visa service deluged with complaints
They said that in order to reduce the number of people needing to
attend a service point and minimise waiting times for
appointments, the company was looking to introduce a new process
which will facilitate the Home Office reusing previously supplied
biometrics for some customers, adding: “We look forward to
providing more information on this very soon.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are committed to providing a
world class service and visa applicants still have the option to
book a free appointment at six core centres across the UK
including London, Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow and
Manchester.”
They said other UK visa centres were reopening “as soon as they
can, in line with public health guidance, to provide more
appointments for visa applicants”.
www.samigration.com