[Tagging] visa offices tags
Allan Mustard
allan at mustard.net
Sat Nov 10 16:18:54 UTC 2018
This is a contractor, so it is not a government office. The U.S.
government does this also in high-volume consular districts.
Application is made through a contractor, though the interview takes
place in the consulate. Office=visa_application would be more accurate,
since visa adjudication still takes place in the consulate.
On 11/8/2018 12:37 PM, Johnparis wrote:
> I tagged one of these office=visa the other day.
>
> https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/4374770543
>
> The offices I'm thinking of are private companies that have government
> contracts to provide services that the government itself would
> normally provide. In many cases they are indistinguishable from a
> government office, so the question of verifiability enters my mind.
>
> For instance, the UK visa office in Paris has big signs outside and
> inside reading "Welcome to Great Britain". I'm frankly not sure if the
> space is rented by the UK or by TLS Contact, which holds the contract.
>
> https://corp.tlscontact.com
>
> Their staff members gather the information for your application,
> including fingerprints, photos, etc., as well as your passport. They
> then seal this in a clear plastic container. After it is sealed, you
> cannot add or remove anything. The fee is set by the UK and paid to
> TLS Contact.
>
> The dossier then goes to London, where a decision is made on your visa
> and the entire dossier is returned to Paris. You pick it up next door
> to the original office from someone behind bulletproof glass. (You
> don't learn the nature of the decision till you look at your
> passport.) This is the only way to get a UK visa in Paris. If you go
> to the UK Embassy or Consulate, they will direct you to the visa office.
>
> Is this an "office=government"? It certainly is quasi-governmental. Do
> they provide visa services? Surely yes, in my mind. In fact, they are
> the only place in Paris that provide visa services for the UK. If you
> want to get any kind of visa -- long term (expat), tourist, transit --
> that's where you go.
>
> So (agreeing with John Willis) I'd say office=visa for these.
>
> John
>
> On Thu, Nov 8, 2018 at 6:16 AM John Willis <johnw at mac.com
> <mailto:johnw at mac.com>> wrote:
>
> Is the office full of people who you pay to help you apply? Or are
> they contracted to be the front-otfice of the agency (acceptance &
> distribution)? В
>
> It seems to be the latter.В
>
> Think of taxes.В
>
> The office where you submit taxes, and an office where a
> professional helps you prepare the forms are two different places.В
>
> Office=tax_preparation and office=tax are different.В
>
>
> If this is some office (public or private) with an official
> mandate to accept applications and distribute visas (whether
> approved onsite immidately or approved elsewhere and mailed to the
> office for distribution), that does sound like office=visa.В
>
> If it is some private business who you pay to help you prepare the
> form, and you mail it to the government and get your visa
> directly, it sounds like office=visa_preperation or
> office=immigration_lawyer.В
>
> I am unfamiliar with the situation you described - so please
> choose the best tag that suits your needs.В
>
> Javbw
>
> On Nov 8, 2018, at 11:37 AM, Eugene Alvin Villar <seav80 at gmail.com
> <mailto:seav80 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>> On Thu, Nov 8, 2018 at 9:29 AM Warin <61sundowner at gmail.com
>> <mailto:61sundowner at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>>> On Nov 7, 2018, at 7:12 AM, Warin <61sundowner at gmail.com
>>> <mailto:61sundowner at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>> 1) this is a commercial firm - not a government
>>>> authority/branch/department/etc
>>>> 2) it 'assist' people to obtain a visa
>>>> 3) it is not at an airport/seaport/boarder
>>>> 4) the visa is obtained before travel commences.
>>
>> It is an office you go to. You present documents, they ask
>> questions, you answer, you pay a fee,
>> the office fills out forms using that information provided
>> (and they then send it off to an embassy/consulate)
>> and then some time later you get a visa back from the office
>> (but the visa itself is actually from the embassy/consulate).
>>
>> In the above situation, what is wrong with office=visa ? You
>> apply to the office, they (usually) get you a visa.
>>
>>
>> Here, the Japanese consulate never accepts direct visa
>> application and instructs people to only submit visa applications
>> through accredited travel agencies.
>>
>> On the other hand, many European consulates here contract a
>> 3rd-party visa processing company such as the aforementioned VFS
>> Global to handle all visa applications. These companies even have
>> equipment to collect biometric data such as photographs and
>> fingerprints that will be forwarded to the consulates together
>> with the visa applications.
>>
>> I would think that the first case should be tagged like other
>> travel agencies because visa handling is just one of their
>> services (they also arrange tours and purchase airline tickets).
>> For the second case, they do nothing else besides processing visa
>> applications on behalf of the contracting consulates. So they are
>> not travel agencies. I think they should indeed be tagged with
>> something like office=visa or better yet office=visa_processing
>> so it is clearer.
>>
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