• Disclaimer
• Privacy Policy
• Supply of Services Terms
• Refund Policy

Disclaimer

All the contents of this site are only for general information or use. They do not constitute advice and should not be relied upon in making (or refraining from making) any decision. The information from or through this site is provided on "AS IS" basis, and all warranties, expressed or implied of any kind, regarding any matter pertaining to any information including without limitation, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement are disclaimed and excluded.

VFS Global and its parent, affiliates and associates shall not be liable in any manner whatsoever, at any time for damages (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business projects, or loss of profits) arising in contract, tort or otherwise from the use of or inability to use the Site, or any of its contents, or from any Act or omission arising from using the site contents or for any failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, computer virus, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, alteration of, or use of information contained on the site. No representations, warranties or guarantees whatsoever are made as to the accuracy, adequacy, reliability, completeness, suitability or applicability of the information to a particular situation.

Certain links on the Site may lead to resources located on servers maintained by third parties over whom VFS Global has no control or connection, business or otherwise as these sites are external to VFS Global. You agree and understand that by visiting such sites you are beyond the VFS Global website. VFS Global, therefore neither endorses nor offers any judgment or warranty and accepts no responsibility or liability for the authenticity/availability of any of the information or for any damage, loss or harm, direct or indirect, consequential or any violation of local or international laws that may be incurred by your visit and/or transaction/s on these sites.

Except for the refund or reimbursements of fees as stated in the Refund Policy, VFS Global excludes its liability in connection with any visa applications, including but not limited to its liability in or under contract, negligence, tort, statute or otherwise howsoever arising, and including liability for any delay or failure of VFS Global in handling or processing visa applications, loss of or delay to passports and other documents, delays involving visas and immigration, and rejections of visa applications for any reason whatsoever. And for the avoidance of doubt, it is clarified that VFS Global shall not be liable in any manner whatsoever under following events including but not limited to as under:

• No Liability for Incorrect Information

  VFS Global shall have no liability for loss, delays or non-issuance of any application arising from or in connection with (to include but not restricted to) incomplete application forms, incorrectly or falsely completed application forms, and inaccurate or incomplete supporting documentation.

• No Liability for Events Not In Our Control

  VFS Global shall not be considered to be in breach of contract or negligent or otherwise liable in any way for any delay or failure of any application or loss, damage or delay to any passport or other documents due to accident, theft, natural calamities (act of God) or any other reason outside the control of VFS Global, and not arising out of a willful default of, VFS Global, or for the loss or damage to any passport or other document after it has been handed over to the visa applicant.

• No Liability for Postal and Courier Service

  VFS Global shall have no liability for any delays, or for loss of or damage to any visa application, passport or other documents, caused by, or occurring whilst any application, passport or document is in the possession of, any third party postal or courier service, including transportation of visa applications, passport or other documents between VFS Global and the mission; and when being returned by VFS Global to the visa applicant.

• No Liability for Assessment of Visa Applications

  VFS Global is not involved in the process of assessment of visa applications, or their grant or refusal, and shall not be liable or responsible in any manner whatsoever for any delay by respective mission in assessing, granting or refusing any visa application or for the grant or rejection of any visa application.

• No Liability for Wasted Costs and Expenses

  VFS Global shall have no liability to any visa applicant, or any other person relying on or benefiting from any visa application, for any commitment, cost or expenditure incurred in reliance on or anticipation of receiving a intended visa, whether within a particular timescale or at all, including but not limited to air travel, hotel, and other travel and accommodation arrangements, and any other arrangements made. VFS Global recommends that you do not purchase tickets or make bookings which cannot be cancelled prior to the issuance of a visa, except where it is a specific requirement stated as part of the visa application, in which case air itinerary should be obtained.

• General Exclusion of Loss and Damage

  VFS Global shall have no liability (including in contract or for negligence) to any visa or Consular applicant, or any other person relying on or benefiting from any visa application, for any direct, indirect, punitive, incidental, special, consequential damages or any damages whatsoever, including where caused by delay, misplacement, loss or damage of visa applications, passports and other documents, other than as stated herein above.

  VFS Global shall have no liability (including in contract or for negligence) to any visa or Consular applicant or any other person relying on or benefiting from any visa application for any loss of profit, revenue, or contract, or business, profession, or other occupation, including where caused by delay, misplacement, loss or damage of visa applications, passports and other documents.

Privacy Policy

Scope & Purpose of collection, use, disclosure etc. of Personal Information

“Personal Information” includes name, address, date of birth, contact numbers, passport information, citizenship status, marital status, employment particulars, criminal records, educational particulars, photographs, birth certificates, and any other information or document related to the above or expressly required for assisting applicants to completing their application forms.

Personal Information may be collected, used or disclosed in order to facilitate the processing of visa / Consular application(s) and/or request(s) including but not limited to for the following purposes:

• Respond to various inquiries on the visa application submission process in general.
• Respond to various inquiries regarding status of application made with VFS GLOBAL;

Important

Provision of personal information is voluntary. However, a refusal to provide personal information may limit or affect ability of VFS GLOBAL to provide the requested services.

Disclosures of Personal Information :

VFS GLOBAL will not trade, rent or sell Personal Information of the Applicants. VFS GLOBAL does disclose or otherwise transfer Personal Information of the Applicants, except as otherwise set out herein. Personal Information will be used solely for the purposes of providing services and performing its various obligations.

However VFS GLOBAL may need to disclose and share Personal Information when it is necessary to comply with a court order, any on-going judicial proceeding, or other legal, statutory or regulatory process served on VFS GLOBAL or to exercise the legal rights or defend against legal claims, criminal investigations, judicial matters or in prevention, investigation, detection, prosecution of criminal activities or matters related to national security.

Service Provider Arrangements :

In connection with and furtherance of its services, VFS GLOBAL may disclose (or otherwise make available) Personal Information to approved third party service providers providing services like courier delivery, SMS, call center services. These third party service providers are provided with such information they need to perform their designated functions and are not authorized to use or disclose personal information for their own purposes. For example, where the Applicant has opted for courier service, VFS GLOBAL will disclose certain Personal data such as name, address, phone number to the third party courier service providers. However Personal Information will not be shared with service provider/s for SMS service/s. Such third party service providers are also required to adhere to security & privacy requirements imposed on them by VFS GLOBAL.

Cookies

Cookies are files or pieces of information that may be stored on system or internet enabled devices of the User, when the Applicant visits the website/s of VFS GLOBAL. VFS GLOBAL uses cookies to make the website/s simpler to use. VFS GLOBAL cannot identify the Applicant personally from this information.

• VFS GLOBAL website offers certain features that are only available through the use of cookies.
• The cookies help website users and maintain their signed-in status.
• Most cookies are "session cookies," meaning that they are automatically deleted from website user’s hard drive at the end of a session when the applicant/user exits the website. However “Persistent cookies” remain in place across multiple visits to our websites.
• The Applicant may encounter cookies from any links of third parties on certain pages of the website that VFS GLOBAL does not control.

Once a User accesses the website/s of VFS GLOBAL, User consents to use of cookies by VFS GLOBAL. If User does not agree to use of cookies, User should not use website/s of VFS GLOBAL. If the cookies are disabled, it may impact the user experience on website/s of VFS GLOBAL.

Spam :

• VFS GLOBAL does not tolerate spam.
• VFS GLOBAL website/s or communication tools shall not be used to send spam or otherwise send content that would violate the terms and conditions of VFS GLOBAL user agreement.
• VFS GLOBAL filters and automatically scans messages for viruses and other illegal or prohibited content before they are sent.
• To report any issues related to spam or spoof emails to VFS GLOBAL, please address e-mails to communications@vfsglobal.com.
• VFS GLOBAL does not permanently store email messages sent to or by it through various formats. VFS GLOBAL does not rent or sell any email addresses to third parties.
• A user/users is/are not licensed, permitted, expected to add, modify, deface, hack, misuse or abuse VFS GLOBAL’ website or the contents therein.

Security :

VFS GLOBAL has implemented measures designed to help protect personal information in its custody and control. VFS GLOBAL maintains reasonable administrative, technical, physical and organizational safeguards in an effort to protect personal information in its custody and control. However VFS GLOBAL shall not be liable for unlawful access, use, modification, destruction, destruction or interceptions by unauthorized persons.

Retention & Destruction of Personal Information :

Application packages collected from Applicants will not be copied or retained by VFS GLOBAL. Unless otherwise mandated by the concerned Diplomatic Mission, any other paper, hard copies, forms or other records containing personal information will be destroyed by a secure shredding process after thirty (30) days of a passport’s return to an applicant.

For the purposes of assisting the Applicants should in any follow-up queries, the Applicant’s personal information may be retained in electronic form, after passport and/or documents have been returned to the Applicant, for a maximum of thirty (30) days or for such longer period as specified by the respective laws of the country.

VFS GLOBAL performs secure disposal or destruction of personal information on the equipment or devices used for storing personal information. When disposing of equipment or devices used for storing personal information (such as filing cabinets, computers, diskettes, and audio tapes), VFS GLOBAL takes appropriate measures such as to removal or deletion of any stored information to prevent access by unauthorized parties.

Legal :

VFS GLOBAL and its third party service providers/ vendors may provide Personal Information in response to a search warrant or other legally valid inquiry pursuant to contravention of law / order or to an investigative body or as otherwise required or permitted by applicable law VFS GLOBAL may also disclose personal information where necessary for the establishment, exercise or a defense of legal claims, or as otherwise permitted by law.

Third Party Links :

VFS GLOBAL website may contain links to other/ third party sites promoting various products and/or services that VFS GLOBAL does not own or operate. These links to websites are in nature of paid advertising are not verified by VFS GLOBAL. These links are provided for convenience. Access to these links is voluntary. VFS GLOBAL does not endorse and is not associated with any of these other third party websites. Users are requested to use their own discretion while dealing with these websites and neither VFS GLOBAL nor its officers, employees, agents shall have any responsibility or liability of any nature whatsoever for these other third party websites or any information contained in them.

These linked websites have their own separate and independent privacy statements, notices and terms of use, which Users are recommended to carefully review the same. VFS GLOBAL does not have any control over such third party websites, and therefore shall have no liability or responsibility of their personal information practices.

To Personal Information :

Disclosure of personal information is strictly voluntary. Applicants disclosing Personal Information shall be deemed to have read and understood this Privacy Policy and consents to the use and disclosure of the Personal Information as provided in this Privacy Policy. Applicants have right to withdraw their consent at any time by notifying VFS Global. However, VFS Global shall not be liable if before the consent is withdrawn, the Personal Information is already disclosed to the relevant offices or third parties as outlined in this Privacy Policy.

Applicants have a right to Personal Information provided by them. Users may request access to their personal information by writing an email to the Info email ID mentioned on the “Contact Us” page with subject line as “Subject Access Request”. This request will be forwarded to the respective IT team since they are the data controllers and further action will be taken by VFS GLOBAL based on the request.

VFS GLOBAL shall not be responsible to ascertain authenticity or accuracy of the information provided by the Applicant. It shall be the duty of the Applicant to ensure that the information provided to VFS GLOBAL is accurate, complete and upto date.

Changes to This Privacy Policy :

Please be advised that the Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time and Users/ Applicants to regularly visit VFS GLOBAL website to access the latest policy statement.

Contact Us :

For any questions about this Privacy Policy or the practices described herein, please write to vfsprivacy@vfsglobal.com for more information.

Inquiries :

For inquiries as regards Privacy Policy please send e-mail to vfsglobalprivacyofficer@vfsglobal.com

Supply of Services Terms

These terms (which are referred to as the “Services Terms & Conditions” in the General Terms & Conditions) relate to the paid-for services supplied to you through the Company Site and should be read in conjunction with the General Terms & Conditions which shall also apply

For the purposes of these terms, the “Services” may include one or more of the services which are offered on the Website.

The Company shall be entitled to offer additional services to which these following terms and conditions shall apply at any time.

Prices and Payment

• Depending on the Services you wish to purchase, your order of Services is an offer to purchase Services from either (a) the Company or (b) the intended Government for whom we collect payment. The Services will be made available to you once your complete payment has been received. There will be no contract of any kind between you and us unless and until you make successfully authorised payment for all the services you intend to purchase. At any point of time until then, we may decline to supply the Services to you without any notice and without being liable to you and may act not to give any reason for the same at Company’s sole discretion.
• The fees for the Services (the “Service Fees”) are calculated and payable in advance as set out on the Website. The Company shall be under no obligation to provide the requested Service until the applicable Service Fee has been paid in full and within the timeframe of payment.
• Where applicable, prices shall state where any additional taxes are applicable and payable by you.
• Your credit/debit card details will be encrypted to minimise the possibility of unauthorised access or disclosure. Authority for payment must be given at the time of placing your order. You represent and warrant that you are fully and lawfully entitled to use the credit /debit card for making payments on this online payment gateway. We shall not be liable in any manner whatsoever for any monetary or other damage suffered by you on due to delay, failure, interruption or corruption of any data, any unauthorized use or access or disclosure of credit/debit card details or any other losses, costs, charges arising out of or in connection with the access to or usage of the payment gateway services and you shall keep us i.e. the Company fully indemnified in this regard. As cautious step, the Company suggests you to please not share your credit card or debit card details including your card no., pin no., name on card, etc with any other person. In case the card is misused or any unauthorised use of card takes place and eventually a transaction is made by that person on our payment gateway, please note that the Company shall not be liable to you in any manner whatsoever for the same and there shall be no reimbursements or refunds of amount in such cases. You shall be solely responsible and liable for usage of your card.

Using the Services

• The Company shall provide an online application and payment portal to support the delivery of the visa application services to visa applicants as more fully described on the Company Site which shall facilitate the provision of the Services to you.
• The Company warrants that it has the right to provide the Services and will use all reasonable skill and care in making the Services available to you and in ensuring their availability. Because of the number of sources from which the Company obtains the content for the Services and because of the nature of the Internet, errors and omissions do occur, the Company shall not be liable or does not give any kind of warranties, in any manner whatsoever, in respect of the Services, its contents, its merchantability, or any other kind of warranty.
• The Company is continually seeking to improve the Services. The Company reserves the right, at its discretion, to make changes to any part of the Services at any point of time without giving any notice to you provided that it does not materially reduce their content or functionality. You agree and understand that the Company shall not be liable for the same in any manner whatsoever.

No Commercial Use

The Services are intended for and shall only be available for non-commercial and domestic use by individual visa applicants. The Company reserves the right, without any liability or responsibility, to refuse orders from businesses or that we consider are for commercial or other non-domestic concerns. You may not re-sell the Services without the prior express written consent of the Company.

Cancellation and Termination

• Once you have paid for the Services, we shall make the Services available to you. You shall not be eligible to cancel any purchase of Services after the order is placed and Services are made available other than in accordance with these terms.
• Your access to the Services may be terminated at the Company’s sole discretion without any liability if you are in material breach of these terms and the breach is not remedied within the period of 3 days after written notice of the breach has been given to you. If we reasonably believe your breach of these terms affects our lawful operation of the Services or third party customers we may suspend your access to the Services at any time with reservation to claim from you any damages or liabilities suffered by the Company due to such breach committed by you.

Fees and Refunds Policy

• You shall only be able to cancel or apply for a refund of any Service Fees in accordance with the refund policy set out in Annex A to these terms (the “Refund Policy”).
• Use of any of the Services offered on the Website does not imply or guarantee in any way that your visa application will be successful. Notwithstanding the use of any of the Services, all visa applicants must qualify against the requirements of the immigration rules of the intended country of visit
• You will receive a confirmation of your payment by email, as well as an on screen confirmation, after You make payment of the Fee.
• The Refund Policy appended hereto as an Annex shall apply to [Fees] payable by visa applicants pursuant to this Agreement.

Information Storage

• All information shall be stored in a separate server placed in our approved premises. VFS Global reserves the rights to hold the data as per the law of the land in which we operate.
• We may occasionally share our information with trusted third party data processors to organise, process, clean & analyse our data to help us better understand the trends and segments within our member base. We shall use this information solely with the purpose of enhancing the value of the program for the member base and to better tailor our offers to suit your specific interests. All such third parties shall be bound by strict confidentiality obligations to maintain the confidentiality of the information shared and will not share the personal information any further or for purposes beyond our specific authorization.
• We offer you the choice to participate in offers which will be rolled out periodically. It is your decision whether or not to share your personally identifiable information for the offers and promotions. We recommend you to carefully read privacy policy of our partners before divulging your personally identifiable information. If you have opted to receive promotional offers there will be unsubscribe options with all such category of offers and members can choose to unsubscribe from such offers at any time by following the mentioned procedures.
• Selectively, members may also receive program offers via your landline or postal mail. Such contacts may result in service(s) package being issued to the member. We also contact you via email for administrative purposes, such as program change notifications or if we update our privacy policy. While you can elect to stop receiving email for promotional offers (as described above), you cannot unsubscribe from these administrative messages while enrolled in the program. Our member care department may contact you in response to an enquiry you submit. Member care may also contact you in regard to a particular problem that may have occurred with your account or with an offer in which you might have participated. We might use this information to learn further about your participation in the program and make it more relevant to your interests.

Information Access

• At VFS Global we respect your privacy and are committed to ensuring the confidentiality of your information with us. We may contact you with useful information on products and services through our telemarketing / tele calling activities, which may be beneficial for you. However, if you do not wish to be contacted through our telemarketing calls or messages, we request you to kindly register at our contact centre and give details of the telephone on which you do not wish to be contacted. Once you have registered for any such DND policy:
• Your telephone number(s) will be removed from all our telemarketing calling lists within 30 working days.
• We will ensure that you do not get any further telemarketing calls on the telephone number(s) that you have registered

Aggregate Data: We Do Not Provide Any Of Your Personally Identifiable Information To Our Advertisers

Because we contact you on their behalf, they do not have access to your personally identifiable information unless you make the choice to share it with them. We may share non-personally identifiable information collected via the program in aggregate (or grouped), anonymous form with advertisers or other third parties so that they may better evaluate what products and services are most appealing to different segments of our member base, but we do not disclose your personally identifiable information to these third parties without your consent.

• Anti-Spam Policy:

  Because email is an integral part of the program, your sharing of email contact with us allows us to share the program information, offers and promotions via email with you. If you later decide you wish to cease participation in this portion of the program, you may do so at any time by unsubscribing to our communication. Please note that opting not to receive email does not exempt you from receiving administrative emails that include but are not limited to, notices about vital program and membership status changes or alterations to our terms of service or any other service requests, redemption orders placed with us.

• Automatically Collected Information:

  When you log on to the VFS Global Privilege Website or use the Privilege Card at a Visa Application Centre (VAC), the server automatically recognizes you by your encrypted member id. This id acts as a unique identifier, which allows us to recognize you and authorize your transactions. It also allows us to keep track of your activity on our site for crediting services to your account. If you choose, this information may be added to your personal profile.

• Security of the information:

  We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect customer information. Specific employees are authorized to access customer information on a need to know basis for business purposes only. Our employees are bound by code of ethics that requires confidential treatment of customer information and are subject to disciplinary action if they fail to follow this code.

• Making sure the information is accurate:

  It is in your interest and it is our objective, to have accurate, current and complete information concerning you and your account. We have strict procedures that our employees abide by to meet this objective. While some procedures are required by Central, State or RBI regulations, we have implemented additional procedures to maintain accurate, correct and complete financial information, including processes to update information and remove outdated information. If you believe that we have incorrect information about you or your accounts, please intimate us. We will correct any erroneous information as soon as possible.

• Grievance officer:

  In the event you have any queries or issues in relation to collection or usage of your personal information, please contact .

Limitation on liability

The Company shall not be liable to you under these terms and conditions for any losses relating to or arising in connection with Services provided to you under these terms and whether based on an action or claim in contract, negligence, tort, misrepresentation (other than fraudulent misrepresentation) breach of statutory duty or otherwise in connection with the Services to which such claim relates.

Under no circumstances will the Company be liable to you for lost profits, or for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special or exemplary damages arising out of or in connection with the use and operation of payment gateway services, regardless of the type of claim and even if the Company has been advised of the possibility of such damages, such as, but not limited to loss of revenue or anticipated profits or loss business.

Refund Policy

Notice to all Visa Applicants :

It is important that You read this Refund Policy carefully. Certain services provided to Applicants are provided directly by the Government Home Office and shall be entirely non-refundable once an Application has been made. You should familiarise yourself with the terms of this Refund Policy prior to purchasing any services.

Interpretation:

Unless otherwise defined, defined terms in this Refund Policy shall have the meaning given to them in the Website Terms and Conditions and/or the Services Terms and Conditions.

• Application: means a form to be completed by an applicant requesting the provision of Services and/or application for a visa from the Authority which is part of the Government submitted along with a passport and supporting documents.
• Authority: means the embassy
• Chargeback: means where an Applicant using the online payment portal makes a complaint to his/her card issuer bank that a transaction is disputed and/or fraudulent.
• Service Fees: means the fees payable by You for the Services purchased in accordance with the Services Terms and Conditions.
• Issuing Bank: means the bank who has issued card to You as card holder.
• Non-Refundable Services: means any Services which are not specified as Refundable Services.
• Refundable Services: means those Services eligible for refund pursuant to Clause 1, Section B.
• Refund Eligibility Criteria: means the criteria set out at Section D.
• Services: means and includes one or more of the services which are offered on the Website.
• Services Terms and Conditions: means the terms and conditions for the use of the payment portal and provision of the Services which are available to view on the Website.
• Transaction Charges: means any fees levied by a bank or financial institution upon processing a valid refund request to Applicants which may vary from case to case.
• “Us”: means VFS Global Services plc whose principal place of business is at 1025 Vermont Ave NW, Washington DC 20005or any party acting on Our implicit instructions (with "Our" being construed accordingly).
• "You": includes the person requesting the Services or any party acting on such person's instructions (and "Your" shall be construed accordingly).
• Website: means the Company’s website, the address of which is http://vfsglobal.com/
• Website Terms and Conditions: means the terms and conditions for the use of Website.

What are cookies?

Cookies are files or pieces of information that may be stored on your computer or internet enabled device when you visit a website. VFS Global uses cookies to make its websites simpler to use and to create a better experiences for you as user. We cannot identify you personally from this information. Cookies in themselves do not identify the individual user, just the computer or mobile device you are using via a randomly generated identifying tag.

How VFS Global use cookies?

To get the best experience from a VFS Global website, you should accept the cookies. VFS Global website offers certain features that are only available through the use of cookies, for example, language support, helping website users and maintaining signed-in status.

Most cookies are "session cookies," meaning that they are automatically deleted from your device at the end of a session when you leave the website. However some “Persistent cookies” remain in place across multiple visits to our websites. You can see how long a Cookie lasts from the Cookie Settings tool that we provide on our sites.

You may encounter cookies from the websites of VFS our affiliates, joint venture partners, agencies, subsidiaries on some pages of the VFS Global websites that we don’t control. You should verify the type of cookies such other parties may place on your computer or internet enabled device and use your judgement on use of such websites. We provide a facility for you to see and control what cookies are being used when you first land on our websites.

Performance and Analytics Cookies.

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.

We ensure that no personal information is collected by these cookies and all analytics data is therefore anonymous.

How to manage or opt out of Cookies from VFS Global?

You can choose to block or delete some Cookies, however please be aware that if the cookies are disabled it may impact your experience of the website and certain functions may not work.

You can view and manage the Cookies used through our Cookie settings centre provided when you land on our websites.

• Introduction.
• Who are we?
• How do we collect information about you?
• What type of information is collected from you?
• How is your information used?
• How long do we hold on to your data for?
• Who has access to your information?
• Your choices.
• Your rights.
• How you can access and update your information?
• Security precautions in place to protect against the loss, misuse or alteration of your information.
• Profiling.
• Use of 'cookies'
• Links to other websites.
• Social networks.
• Contact us

Introduction.

At VF Worldwide Holdings Ltd, we’re committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

This Privacy Notice (“Notice”) explains how VF Worldwide Holdings Ltd. and its worldwide companies and subsidiaries (“VFS Global,” “we,” or “us”) handle personal information. This Notice applies to any VFS Global website, product, software, or service that links to it (collectively, our “Services”). Occasionally, a Service will link to a different Privacy Notice that will outline the particular privacy practices of that Service.

We may change this Notice from time to time so please check this page occasionally to ensure that you’re happy with any changes.

This Notice was last updated 26 July 2018

By using our services, you’re agreeing to be bound by this Notice.

If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Notice or our privacy practices please contact Attn: Group Data Protection Officer

VF Worldwide Holding Ltd,
Unit 3205, 32nd floor,
Jumeirah Business Centre, I tower, Cluster G,
Jumeirah Lakes Towers,
P.O. Box
114100 Dubai.
U.A.E.

Who are we?

VFS Global is the world's largest outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions worldwide. We are authorized to receive applications for various categories of visa, permit and travel document and to perform administrative and non-judgmental tasks related to those applications and citizen services for our client governments enabling them to focus entirely on the critical task of assessment. By virtue of providing the service of processing applications, VFS Global acts as a Data Processor and the respective government missions are the Data Controllers.

The diplomatic mission of the country you are applying for a visa to visit is the Data Controller is.

How do we collect information about you?

We obtain information about you when you use our website or use our services, for example, when you apply for a visa or use our visa application services. Also, we may obtain information from secondary sources, for example; in the verification of a document as part of the visa application process, if the client government has requested that we do that. Then we may contact, for example, credit rating agencies, fraud detection agencies, educational establishments, previous employers, and other entities, in order to obtain additional information.

What type of information is collected from you?

We only collect the information that is required by the client government in order to submit the visa application or provide a requested service. The personal information that we collect is determined by the government that grants the visa, and is dependent on what type of visa you are applying for.

Some examples of the types of data that may be collected:

Personal data: Such as, name, national identity number, nationality, gender, details of your travel document (e.g. passport or ID), email address, telephone number and postal address, place & date of birth.

Sensitive Personal data: Religion, marital status, health related information, Biometric data, such as Fingerprints, Photographs & DNA swabs.

Third persons: Children, parents name, spouse name, employers’ details, someone who gives a personal reference, address you are staying at your destination.

Communication data: Contact details, emails, mobile phone number.

Payments data: Payment card details, bank account details.

Electronic media data: CCTV images, video & audio recordings, website cookies (see below).

This list is not exhaustive and varies depending on the client government’s requirements and the services you request from us.

If you want to know exactly what personal information will be collected for your visa or travel document application, please contact our Data Protection Officer or contact the diplomatic mission concerned at the address above.

How is your information used?

VFS Global will only use your personal information for the specific visa application process or to provide to you an addition service that you have requested, such as, courier delivery of your visa to your home.

We may use your information to:

• Book an appointment with one of our visa submissions officers at a Visa Application Centre (VAC);
• To assist you in your Visa or other travel document application;
• To validate who you say you are;
• To enable you to track the progress of your application;
• To provide you with additional services that you request;
• To perform our obligations under our mandate from our client governments;
• For the purposes of carrying out verification procedures in relation to your visa or travel document application;
• To prevent crime;
• To seek your views or comments on the services we provide;
• With your permission, to send you communications which you have requested and that may be of interest to you.

How long do we hold on to your data for?

We review our retention periods for personal information on a regular basis. We are legally required to hold some types of information to fulfil our statutory obligations (for example; invoices for taxation legislation). We will hold your personal information on our systems only for the minimum time as is necessary for the relevant activity as mandated by our client government.

The visa application data that we collect will not be copied or retained by VFS Global. Any other paper, hard copies, forms or other records containing personal information will be destroyed by a secure process within thirty (30) days of your travel documents being returned to you.

Some of your personal information may be retained in electronic form for a maximum of thirty (30) days after your travel documents been returned to you. This is for the purposes of assisting you should you contact us with follow-up questions.

Who has access to your information?

We will not disclose your personal information to third parties without your consent. We may share your personal information with companies belonging to VFS Global where it is necessary for the processing of your requests or to deliver an additional service you have requested, for example; if you asked us to deliver your travel document to your home or office, or to carry verification procedures or in the prevention of crime.

We will not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes unless you have explicitly consented. You can withdraw this consent at any time by updating your account preferences on-line where applicable or contacting our Customer Centre whose details you will be given when you make an application.

Authorities:

By applying for a visa or other type of travel document your personal information will be sent to the foreign diplomatic mission that represents the country you are applying to visit. This diplomatic mission may share your personal information with an applicable governmental, regulatory, or enforcement authorities for the prevention of crime or terrorism.

Third Parties for legal reasons:

We will share personal information when we believe it is required, such as:

To comply with legal obligations and respond to requests from government agencies, including law enforcement and other public authorities, which may include such authorities outside your country of residence.

In the event of a merger, sale, restructure, acquisition, joint venture, assignment, transfer, or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets, or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings)

To protect our rights, users, systems, and Services.

Third Party Service Providers working on our behalf:

We may pass your information to our third-party service providers, agents subcontractors and other associated organisations for the purposes of completing tasks and providing services to you on our behalf (for example to process payments or deliver your visa to you by courier). However, when we use third party service providers, we disclose only the personal information that is necessary to deliver the service and we have a contract in place that requires them to keep your information secure and not to use it for their own direct marketing purposes. Please be reassured that we will not release your information to third parties beyond the VFS Global network for them to use for their own direct marketing purposes, unless you have given us permission to do so.

Third Party Product Providers we work in association with:

We work closely with a small number of third-party product providers to bring you a range of quality and reliable services designed to bring you the best application process experience. For example, when you pay for your visa application we will need to have way to process that payment. The relevant third-party provider will use your details to process your payments and carry out their obligations arising from any applicable laws. In some cases, they will be acting as a Data Controller of your information and therefore we advise you to read their Privacy Notice. These third-party service providers will share your information with us which we will use in accordance with this Privacy Notice.

Transferring your information off-shore:

As part of the services offered to you through this website, or in a Visa Application Centre, the information which you provide to us will, in most circumstances, be transferred to off-shore countries. This is because by applying for a visa or other type of travel document your personal information will be sent via the diplomatic mission to the country you are applying to visit. These countries may not have similar information protection laws to your country. As part of the visa application process we will seek your consent to transfer your personal information “off-shore” even though it is a necessary part of the application process we are obliged by law to ask your permission to transfer your personal information.

We may transfer your personal information, internally within VFS Global, to one of our data centres in the UK, Canada, Germany, India or Russia depending on which country you are in and applying to travel to. If we transfer personal information internally within VFS Global from one country to another country, where the data protection laws may not offer the same level of data privacy protection as in your home country, we take measures to provide an appropriate level of data privacy protection. In other words, your rights and protections remain with your data. For example, we use European Commission approved contractual clauses, and other measures designed to ensure that the recipients of your personal information protect it.

If you would like to know more about our data transfer practices, Please contact our Data Protection Officer.

Your choices.

You have the right to withdraw your consent that you gave us previously for processing your data. However, if you do, we cannot continue to process your visa application.

We will not contact you for marketing purposes by email, phone or text message unless you have given us your prior permission for us to do so. You can change your mind at any time and opt not receive and further marketing information by contacting our Customer Centre or updating your account preferences on-line, where appropriate.

Your rights.

You have certain rights under the law with regards to how your personal information is processed. These rights are:

1. The right to be informed how your personal information is being used.
2. The right of access to your personal information.
3. The right to rectification if your personal information is incorrect.
4. The right to erasure your personal information. (Where the law permits this)
5. The right to restrict processing of your personal information
6. The right to data portability.
7. The right to object to how your personal information is used.
8. Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling.
9. The right to withdraw your consent.

If you feel that your personal information has been handled incorrectly or you have a complaint about how your personal information is processed then you have the right to complain.

You can complain to our Data Protection Officer, or directly to the Dubai Ministry of Health and Prevention, or the appropriate Data Protection Authority, outlining how you think your rights may have been impacted by the data processing performed by VFS Global.

How you can access and update your information?

You have the right to ask for a copy of the information VFS Global holds about you. If you request access to your personal information, we will gladly comply, subject to any relevant legal requirements and exemptions, including identity verification procedures. Before providing data to you, we will ask for proof of identity and sufficient information about your interaction with us so that we can locate any relevant data. We may also charge you a fee for providing you with a copy of your data (except where this is not permissible under local law).

The accuracy of your information is important to us. In some jurisdictions, you have the right to correct or amend your personal information if it is inaccurate or requires updating. You may also have the right to request deletion of your personal information; however, this is not always possible due to legal requirements and other obligations and factors.

We’re working on ways to make it easier for you to review and correct the information that we hold about you. In the meantime, if you want a copy of the information we hold about you, or if you change email address, or any of the other information we hold is inaccurate or out of date, please contact our Customer Centre, write to us at our local office shown at the beginning of this privacy notice, or email our Data Protection Officer.

Security precautions in place to protect against the loss, misuse or alteration of your information.

When you give us personal information, we take steps to ensure that it’s treated securely. Any sensitive information (such as credit or debit card details) is encrypted and protected. On our websites when you are on a secure page, a lock icon will appear on the in the address bar of most web browsers. This means the transfer of information from your browser to our webservers is encrypted to keep it safe.

Non-sensitive details (your email address etc.) are transmitted normally over the Internet, and this can never be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your information, we make our very best efforts to ensure its security on our systems. When you set-up an account, say for example when you book an appointment at a Visa application centre, you are responsible for keeping that account password confidential and we ask you not to share your password with anyone

Profiling.

Profiling is any form of automated processing of personal information in order to analyse or predict behaviour. VFS Global may use website analytics partners for helping us to develop a better user experience and to improve our website. For example, how long a user spends on a particular webpage will indicate to us how user-friendly the page is. None of your personal information is collected or passed to our analytics partners or third parties. This analysis is provided via analytics cookies. We have provided the choice for you to accept or refuse the use of cookies and also provided a facility for you to disable the analytics cookies.

Use of 'cookies'

Like many other websites, the VFS Global website uses cookies. 'Cookies' are small pieces of information sent by an organisation to your computer and stored on your hard drive to allow that website to recognise you when you visit. They collect statistical information about your browsing actions and patterns and do not identify you as an individual. For example, we use cookies to store your preferred language. This helps us to improve our website and deliver a better more personalised service.

It is possible to disable the use of cookies in your browser preferences or by using our provided Cookie Settings Centre. Disabling cookies may result in a loss of functionality when using our website. For more detailed information about how VFS Global uses cookies, please see our Cookies disclosure.

Links to other websites.

Our website may contain links to other websites run by other organisations. This privacy Notice applies only to our website‚ so we encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other sites even if you access them using links from our website.

In addition, if you linked to our website from a third-party site, we cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of the owners and operators of that third-party site and recommend that you check the Notice of that third-party site.

Social networks.

Some of our Services may include social networking features, such as the Facebook® “Like” button and widgets, “Share” buttons, and interactive mini-programs. These services may collect information such as the web pages you visited and IP addresses, and may set cookies to enable features to function properly. We are not responsible for the security or privacy of any information collected by these third parties. You should review the privacy statements or policies applicable to the third-party services you connect to, use, or access. If you do not want your personal information shared with your social media account provider or other users of the social media service, please do not connect your social media account with your account for the Services and do not participate in social sharing on the Services.

Contact us:

We understand that you may have questions about this Statement or our privacy practices. Please feel free to contact us in one of the following ways:

VFS Global’s Group Data Protection Officer:
Email:
DPO@vfsglobal.com

Address:
Attn: Group Data Protection Officer
VF Worldwide Holding Ltd,
Unit 3205, 32nd floor,
Jumeirah Business Centre, I tower, Cluster G,
Jumeirah Lakes Towers,
P.O. Box
114100 Dubai.
U.A.E.

• VFS Global acts as an agent on behalf of their clients in the submission of applications for visa/Consular s and ancillary services to the appropriate institutions and/or immigration authorities online or offline.
• By making payment for our service, you agree to abide by terms and conditions as set out here. VFS Global reserves the right not to provide any service without the client agreeing to our terms and conditions as set out here
• These Terms and Conditions govern the provision of all services provided by VFS Global in the processing of visa applications and other ancillary services for their clients. All orders made by clients are subject to the terms and conditions set out herein.
• VFS Global offers assisted services on visa/Consular applications in the timelines committed to its customer. However, VFS does not guarantee time guidelines for any visa application/Consular. VFS Global will not be responsible for any change in the rules, regulations, and timelines for processing the applications as decided by the Mission/Embassy from time to time.
• VFS Global shall have no liability to any visa/Consular applicant, or any other person relying on or benefiting from any visa/Consular application, for any commitment, cost or expenditure incurred in reliance on or anticipation of receiving a visa, whether within a particular timescale or at all, including but not limited to air travel, hotel, and other travel and accommodation arrangements, and any other arrangements made.
• VFS Global shall have no liability (including in contract or for negligence) to any visa /Consular applicant, or any other person relying on or benefiting from any visa/Consularapplication for: any loss of profit, revenue, contract, business, profession, or other occupation; for any direct, indirect, punitive, incidental, special, consequential damages or any damages whatsoever. This exclusion of liability includes but is not limited to where the loss is caused by delay, misplacement, loss or damage of visa applications, passports and other documents.
• VFS Global bears no responsibility for costs incurred by an applicant or any secondary applicants while waiting for a visa to be finalized by the immigration authorities. These costs may include but are not limited to cost of flights, rent of accommodation, loss of earnings or any other costs. VFS Global is not liable for any costs arising from any action or inaction of any immigration authority, embassy or government body associated with the visa process or indeed for the non-provision of service from any third party associated with the visa process or visa delivery; which may result in a visa application or any part in the visa application process being delayed or refused as a result.
• For any visa, in particular a tourist or business visa, the client should not book a flight ticket unless the embassy has specifically requested evidence of this as a requirement for the visa application. In such cases a tentative itinerary can be provided but tickets for travel should be bought only after the visas are issued.
• An embassy may decide to review an application in the destination country rather than at the local embassy. This decision is at the discretion of the embassy and it is not something that would be known in advance by VFS Global. It may take longer than the standard processing time for such applications to be processed and this is outside our control. VFS Global reminds you not to book flights or any other travel services until your visa is granted.
• VFS Global will always assist visa/Consular application in the applicants’ best interest. We are a not a outsourced Partner for the Embassy/Mission of India. In this capacity, VFS Global (through its visa application centres (VACs)) is responsible for: receipt of visa/Consular documents required to complete form filling services only.
• The assessment of visa applications itself is not carried out by VFS Global (or any member of its group) and the grant or refusal of visas is at the sole discretion of Embassy/Mission. The respective Embassy/Mission for which the applicant has applied for the visa, reserves the right to ask for further documentation and information from the visa applicant, and to refuse any visa application. The visa applicant must supply such further documents and information if they wish their application to continue to be considered.

This VFS Global website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. ("Google"). Google Analytics uses "cookies", which are text files placed on your computer to help VFS Global analyze how visitors use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of this website, compiling reports on your website activity for pages visited, the duration and bounce rate, while providing other miscellaneous services relating to website activity and usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google's behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.

You can prevent Google’s cookie generated collection of data, referring to your use of the website (incl. your IP address), plus the processing of the data, by downloading and installing the browser-plugin, which you can find here: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en