TLScontact / UK Visas & Immigration UKVI Review

DO NOT GO THERE, TOOK US 8 HOURS

We just had our visa done yesterday and it took us 8 hours. They claimed that 6 (out of 7) of their biometric scanning machines decided to crash all at the same time except for 1 machine is left which is left operating.

We understand the technical difficulty, however it is not an excuse for RUDE STAFF and POOR SERVICE. Furthermore, we have not been notified earlier at all, and found this out after we arrived at the place after a 2.5 hour train ride from Sheffield (and had to buy a new return ticket which costed more a 100 GBP).

We were very disappointed and will never go back there again.

They provide a good service and the stuff here are very nice!

I came to edinburgh office today, the service is pretty good, and the their officers is really friendly!

It is terrible and unbelievably slow! If you are slightly late, they offer you a great option! They make you wait outside without saying a word and you hope to get in soon naively. Then someone comes out and says they cannot accepy me today More

We went to the application center in October and was very pleased with their service. The people were accommodating and we were entertained on time. Highly recommended this Edinburgh visa application center.

Went for the long-stay visa. Surprised at how efficient and well run the center is. Prior to coming, it was stressful to know how the process worked, and the website was pretty good. However, once I got to the center and went through the process, I left relaxed as the staff was very nice, informative, and professional.

ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING SERVICE! After travelling 125 miles for the appointment, my partner and I called to ask for the final directions (walking distance), we were told it is 'Exhibition House' and directions can be found on the website! We More

Really loved the experience. Was able to complete the form get i t verified by dedicated person before submitting the documents. Its really the best way to make sure you dont miss any documents which could force you to withdraw your application. To top it all i was able to get the photocopies and printouts of the documents which i had missed to take.

Compared with the disgusting VFS, TLS is really good service, and maybe I am lucky. A Chinese boy named Brian is collecting my materials. I am sincere and patient. In addition, there are other staff members who will take the time to help you check the materials. The front desk staff is also good, although the materials are not particularly complete, and the auxiliary materials have passed. A few months ago, I went to VFS. The Indian-Pakistan woman who received the materials was sick in her heart. None of the people she took over did not run a few times. She turned her eyes directly to the customer and picked up the bones in the bones. It is recommended to go to the TLS service much better, one week to get it.

I received my passport very quick. Actually it is just 4 days after I submitted the application.

Worst experience ever. Despite coming on time we had to wait an hour in line, process itself took nearly 3 hours. Very rude staff.

Earlier today 9am i had an appointment but was told to go home to reapply.
back story: i applied from both france and tls website, but whats wrong is that on france website you are asked to put in your travel dates but you wont get to see available dates until you first submit your france website application then tls where you see the appointment slots. thats what happened to me. after applying and getting refence number on france website i created an account and secured an appointment on tls website. to my surprise the slots were a bit too late to set as an appointment (adding into consideration decision time upto 15 days) so i deleted my application on france website attempting to create another one. so after deleting, i made a new application but was told that the passport number already has a pending application. so i was like, what do i do? anyway i waited for my appointment date and obviously they questioned me why i dont have the schengen application form from the france website. they asked me print from their printer. i explained briefly (what i explained above). the assistant told me simply to reapply because reassuringly she said "good news there are available slots next week". she said she'll have my tls application deleted so i can reapply after lunch time the same day. cut story short i reapplied as told and my application was indeed deleted, i was very happy. what frustrated me was when i got to the slot availability part on tls website, there were no slots available for next week. not even the whole month of October. the next available slot is 18th November and our departure date (for which transpo ticket and hotel accommodation have already been bought) is 16th of November.

i am so deeply frustrated that i was told that there are many slots available next week (if true it wouldve been enough time for my planned departure dates)

is this a standard spiel that staff tells applicants? "good news, there are available slots for next week" just to give false hope? frustrating!!

also could you make instruction on france website clearer. you are saying that after submission of application you will be redirected to another site for schedule appointment. i was not redirected. i had to go to tls website and pretty much left clueless. no instruction that you will have to create an account and put in reference number from francevisa website application (no instruction you will be needing this on tls website). its just misleading. it is far from applicant friendly. i am not sure why... thats all! you have to test your system first and assume that if you were the applicant would you be able to finish application without any assistance from your every busy helpline, (if it is even a helpline).

For the last 3 years, TLScontact has become the main reason I avoid Schengen visa. Though not the wrong of this center, I personally found the whole Visa mechanism itself is almost like a ranking of people based on what passport they hold and is dehumanising enough on its own. That's why the least this place can do is to provide friendly and helpful service right? However I found that some staff here just shouldn't be working in a customer-facing environment for the manners they have.

I am surprised they are still using their silent number calling system. Not that I missed my number but When the wait is long and the applicants' reference numbers are not in numerical order, your silent little screen is not very helpful. I respect the rules of no mobile, but people's attention can still be drifted away during the wait and miss their number.

very smooth process but was bit slow for biometric information collection. London

The sevice was good. Appointment on time. Very fast processing time: took 2 working days to get my visa.

The website could be a bit more user-friendly.

Although the process was really pleasant, it was a bit uncomfortable to be pulled by the staff

I applied for my visa in January which isn't really peak season so the application timeline was quite fast. I completed my application form on a Friday, was able to secure a Monday appointment slot, and the passport was available for collection on Friday the same week.
The practice of having many applicants at the same time slot is very common so you shouldn't be surprised if you apply for travel visa a lot. The appointment duration is admittedly long at around 2 hours from start to finish with a lot of waiting in between, so do come prepared. They're very strict on turning off handphone too. Staff was courteous, polite and helpful otherwise.

Wife submitted passport for travel visa to eu. Not sent back in time and we are due to travel tomorrow. Application was made in enough time. We have made multiple applications for visas for her without issues in the past. From the feedback seen, it is worth applying direct to the embassy and not trust this service.

This is the first time that I visit the TLS visa application centre in London. I am so impressed by their high quality service, especially the warm-hearted gentleman Brian. My application could be one of the most complicated cases in any days (because of my own mistake). Brian was superb. He didn't hesitate to run around to help me resolve all the issues. All I can say is: My family and myself feel grateful for his excellent service. I cannot speak high enough about this gentleman. Wish him all the best in the future.

My visa process way went too smoother than I expected. I arrived at the TLSContact centre by an hour earlier and was still allowed to enter and finish the process faster. Everyone around were helpful and friendly. Am now looking for the similar experience in my tour to Belgium

Really bad experience , very bad people working in there !!!!!!!

need to wait for one hour if there are crowded but can get visa quickly less than one week

I came to Edinburgh Visa application. Very happy about the service.

Many complaints during my visit today

1) There was a system down related issues in TLS, hence 12.15 pm appointment got delayed up to 3 pm.
2) Drinking Water was not available.
3) I was standing for all the times (all the 3 hrs). Previous Schengen visa holders were asked stand in a different area today, hence I was standing all the times. Even during the document collection process, there was no seating arrangement. Applicants are made to stand throughout the entire process- it would be convenient to have a proper facility.
4) The lady instructor (in the outside queue) was shouting at me for not informing about old Schengen visa which was never asked.
5) We had recently (within 3 months) taken another Schengen visa and it is already expired. We used the same photo for this visa as well, as this photo is taken recently. Nowhere in the website, it was mentioned that we can't use the same picture which was used in the previous Schengen visa. It caused so much inconvenience for many of us. Especially when you have younger kids to take photo from their photo booth.
6) The lady in the counter seemed frustrated as I was doing three applications (myself and my kids) at the same time, though that was not my fault. She didn't do proper help and delayed the process very long.
Luckily later I got a different person who processed my application towards the end, and he was very courteous.

Overall very bad experience for me today. I was expecting much more.

Rude. Unbearably rude staffs with no quality service. Dont waste your time.

I had few initial issue when I used premium service, but one of the center manager 'Bilal' spoke to me personally and solved. He was very helpful and ask my openion to improve the service. One of the issue i had faced was no kids under 12 allowed to the centre, but he explained that it is not their decision but the regulation bu the consulate. Good service and they are keen to improve the experience.
Thanks

Terrible customer service, unfriendly and unhelpful staff, terrible application website

Incredibly efficient service in London, was dealt with quickly and no fuss. The people working there were also immensely friendly, and very happy to help but also make you feel welcome!

Took such a long time to get an appointment at the France side, then went through Belgium and it was excellent.

I am having a very bad experience with them. I had to withdraw my application at their center as i had missed a document.. the cancellation was done by their employees only , but when i came back home and try to book a new appointment it never allowed me to schedule a new one.. i tried reaching out to them on multiple occasions on their phone and form on their website but never received a call back.. it's been a week now since the application has been withdrawn but i don't get the option to book another appointment.. my travel date is fast approaching and looks like i might have to completely give up hopes of getting a visa to France due to these guys and loose all the booking fees.. I don't understand why French government has appointed them!! Extremely gutted by the overall experience..

TLS contact is the worst visa service provider we have ever come across, with waiting time for an appointment being longer than a month. Their poorly trained staff, which has absolutely zero knowledge and understanding about visa rules and procedures, behave so arrogantly as if they know everything. They arbitrarily decide on the spot that what documents are needed for your applications and obviously you don t have them because of they are arbitrary. They try their best to make even simple thing very tricky, only to be proven wrong on each occasion. Very frustrating!

Their website is useless, only adds to confusion. It should be taken down immediately for having misleading info. It is causing more harm than good to the applicants. Very likely that in the garb of these tactics, they are shrewdly pushing applicants to buy their premium services or to approach third parties so that they could maximise their profit.

To make the matter worse, the staff s response to the applicant is decided by the applicant s skin colour. Royal treatment guaranteed if you are black. Other skin colours are very welcome to go to sewer. This very pompous lady Mileina , whose primary job was to maintain the queue, misbehaved with us and also tried to influence other colleagues to create hurdles and stop us from submitting our applications. In her own words I am everything here . An absolutely disgusting personality, sick!

TLS contact, which has become a hub for displaying blatant discrimination against non-black applicants, seriously needs to send some of its staff for example this lady Mileina for diversity training. Actually, they wont act, because when an applicant complains, they conveniently put the blame on French consulate for everything.

TLS contact is showing France in a bad light. TLS treatment to applicants could significantly harm France s ties in the area of science, arts, culture and trade. Students, professionals and tourists are extremely disenchanted with France, simply because they can t get visa on time and easily. This is primarily because of TLS contact. French consulate needs to take a note of this and terminate its contract with this TLS contact asap.

Awful experience. Total nightmare 4.5 hours wait in chaotic and overcrowded conditions today. Woefully inadequate staffing levels (only 3-4 out of 10 counters open) even though they knew how many applicants would be attending. Building is way too small which means applicant's family or friends not allowed in and have to wait outside in the pouring rain. Have made a formal complaint to Consulate General of France and hopefully if enough people complain they'll get rid of TLScontact. Never again!

Very BAD visa application service. After paying all the fees and taxes, this particular visa TLS expects visitors and applicants to stand in the cold , rainy weather outside for more than 30 mins- 1 hour. Very narrow place, staff are RUDE.(SPEAKING DIFFERENT LANGUAGES ) There is a leakage of drinking water on the floor and staff expects to be quite and walk carefully next to the water. SHAME SHAME SHAME TLS. Dear FRENCH MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS PLEASE CANCEL THE CONTRACT TO THESE PARTICULAR AGENTS AND HANDOVER TO SOMEONE WHO MAINTAINS BRITISH STANDARDS OR FRENCH STANDARDS, NOT SOMEONE POOR/ WORST STANDARDS IN LONDON , U.K.

Your appointment means nothing! Get an early appointment and make sure to be there well in advance, otherwise you have to wait for hours in order to get inside!

Very very rude staff no experience at all no respect. It takes long time inside. This is last time in my life I go there. I haven't seen rude like TLS contact never in my life

very bad services, staff is not well trained, while collecting docs they tampered my passport and assured me that its not an issue and shouldn't impact my Visa, however Embassy returned my passport and i have to reply after fixing my passport. very disappointed waste of money and time.

Had a terrible experience thanks to the systems and existing of 2 sites in the process. Premium lounge solved the issue. Melina in the lounge was the hero. She saved the day!

Premier service is great and affordable especially with Malena's and Dean's professional help. I would highly recommend it. Also you can literally have breakfast here :p

It s still very convenient. I made a mistake in my travel plan and signed it back in two hours.

Improved customer service and system from last year

This service is very poor. i mistakenly booked the wrong appointment date on the website. there is no option to change the date. I've been calling and emailing the centre for the past 5 days. No reply & no call back. Please just cancel my application

It's definitely the worst experience I ever get with such places. We just moved from Amsterdam and lost our Schengen visa so we wanted to go for a trip to France as we usually do every September. We were told that we are not allowed to bring our 2,5 years old son with us. We don't have any friends here as we just moved and I need to search for a nanny very carefully so I can't find one in a week.
I've never met such a terrible attitude towards children, they treat them like some animals probably. Super child unfriendly place, please don't come there.

The Good- Easy to get to using public transport (recommended). My consultant was lovely and efficient to deal with.

The Bad- Expect to wait long past your appointment time. On my visit only 4 counters were open for the initial interview. I was lucky to only wait 30 minutes past my schedule time. I would suggest to take a book to occupy yourself with as they have a STRICT no phone policy inside.

I understand that the centre will be busy as their is a high demand BUT then TLS should employ more staff-there is clearly a need for this

The Ugly- A riot nearly broke out while waiting for biometrics. In the waiting room the screen displays that you should take a seat and wait for your ref number to be called. So about 30 people randomly sat down until about 10 min later the guy came and said they are not using the queuing system that day and only started taking whoever sat in the front row. People got very angry as newcomers were getting helped before others who had been waiting for ages just because they weren't in the front. The staff new what was happening but just laughed it off. Also only 3 stations were open so it took a long time.

All in all from the time my appointment was scheduled for to when I left the whole process took 1.5 hours.

1: The walking route given by Google map is indeed wrong. Children's shoes are recommended to study the map
2. At about 8:30, I said that I had problems with insurance and would send me to premium (I did n t cover all Europe, I bought all the insurance except Spain), and waited for an hour outside to give me A post-it let me go to the premium at 10 o'clock, and toss it until 11 o'clock to finish it for me
3. The most important! ! ! Knock the key points on the blackboard! ! ! Be sure to check the visa materials yourself! ! Even if the staff has finished the inspection! ! They didn't take all my materials! ! A crackle picked up a bunch of refunds to me and said that they were unnecessary, so they gave me a bag and submitted them, but they missed my return ticket! ! ! ! So I received a letter requesting another trip to London to supplement the materials! ! ! ! Cause visa extension! ! ! ! I lost more than 500 pounds for airfare and hotel expenses! ! ! ! !
1, the Google map shows wrong way
2, the insurance must cover the whole Europe, even you are not decide to go to other countries, they always use insurance problem as a reason to ask you to choose premium service with extra 28 pounds
3, the most important things! ! ! ! ! the staff never! ! never! ! be responsible to your apply! ! check everything by youself even the staff had check them and told you everything is OK! ! ! ! they loose my return tickets! ! I loose more than 500 pounds because of their mistake! ! !

Very unorganised and unprofessional.
Its better not to use this service if you can!!

I loved this edinburgh TLS Contact office and service.. very friendly staff and I recommend to all

No idea how there are so many good reviews. I've been waiting 2hrs with no idea when my turn may actually come. This place is is an organisational disgrace. I think they try to make you buy premium by making you wait an eternity. So many staff doing nothing, while everyone waits. Incomparable to VFS for visa via Italian embassy.

I would have given a zero rating if there was an option. Went to their office today for 8.30am appointment for tourist visa, and left hungry and tired after FIVE CRAZY HOURS OF STANDING AND WAITING. At the entrance we were met by a very rude lady who was shouting at everyone. Enter the office, document checking took 45min, then STOOD in the queue for 5hrs waiting to make payment and get biometric done. They wouldn't allow us to use mobile phones or even step out of the office. There were 100s of people inside their tiny office, standing for hours and being treated like beggars. Toddlers and infants were crying due to no food, and few others were on the verge on fainting. There was no communication from staff about the delay, and when a group of applicants complained, all they could say is that you can take it up with our management. Pathetic service, and almost felt like a prison experience after having paid so much for the service! Will NEVER RECOMMEND TO ANYONE!

Absolutely terrible service so far! I wanted to speak to a consultant over phone so dialled in my number. Got a call staraight after and then was speaking to her to track my passport, so she decided to pretend she couldn't hear me and said "you probably didn't like me voice" and hung up!!!!!

Such a awful place! The Asian assistant was really mean, not helpful at all. The counter asked me to get premium service and the securities told me I couldn t use premium. THIS IS FRENCH VISA CENTRE.

It's very convenient to applicants to apply france visa at tlscontact using premium service here.

Horrifying; took 4 hours of standing in the queue to finish submitting my application; in comparison to the 10 mins it takes when using VFS. Not to mention the horribly rude security guard treating the applicants like cattle. The French embassy should really reconsider using VFS or any other agency to outsource their applications to.

Worst visa experience ever!!! The place is vercrowded, waited too long outside in the cold just to get in, not to mention another 2 hours waiting time inside, staffs are very rude, do not use if you can use other Schengen visa service.

Rude and unhelpful staff.
Been told to print receipt for the application, not allowed to get the password from my phone!!!! This is ridiculous. Because of that rejected the application and ruined my trip.
Avoid at all costs.

My flight is on the May 25th but the earliest appointment I can get is on the May 22nd, which may cause delay of my schedule. So I went to the TLS office premium service this morning and explained my situation. The lady was extremely kind understanding my situation, that I have to get on the flight to take care of my parents. It is definitely not recommended to go on a different date of your appointment, but in this case, the service at TLS was very understanding.

Service was nice. But I saw a comment about racial discrimination posted in Chinese. Staff at counter 8 was racist.

Very friendly helpful staff at the premium service, highly recommend

One of the uneducated embassy in earth. Worse then 3rd world country Embassy. Stupid uneducated France emabassy

In and out in 45 minutes for French Visa processing. This time was all good.

My experience with this place is mixed. When I submitted my documents at the Belgian visa section, the staff were helpful and patient. However, they seem to lack enough knowledge of the visa application process and requirements. e.g. whether to take my finger prints, whether to fill out a form (which was not mentioned in the official document list but I had to do it anyways). Nevertheless the overall experience was ok.
When I went to collect my passport, the lady at the counter greeted me with a smile, but then got impatient when she couldn't find my passport and asked me to hand her my papers. I didn't understand which papers to hand in, and this could have been resolved by telling me calmly, but she spoke in a rude manner. I finally got my passport and visa back. But I do hope that staff at the passport return section can be more patient.

They charge a lot for simple photo copies and if you have to use internet it's even more expensive, their website is not of much help, there is absolutely no way to contact them on phone, they want you to register with them no matter what, the service is absolutely crap.

full Of bastards thinking they are doing a favour with our own money.get lost!

Horrible service and staff.I surprised how they can allow this behaviour people work here. I submitted my application on 10th December. Paid extra for delivery home. On 2nd of January French embassy grant me visa. On 8th January I received More

they give a terrible service and humiliating peoples.
ignorant staffs working there.

they not giving new appointment,

We had to cancel our trip & lose all booking costs.