Inside the billion-dollar business of getting a visa
An investigation reveals how visa giant VFS Global profits from millions of visa applications from the Global South. Getting a visa can be expensive, frustrating, and for many people, unsuccessful. …
An investigation reveals how visa giant VFS Global profits from millions of visa applications from the Global South. Getting a visa can be expensive,
Read Full Story at Al Jazeera →Why This Matters
The visa industry exposes a paradox of globalization: while borders are meant to be porous for capital and goods, they remain heavily fortified for the people trying to traverse them for work, education, or refuge. This billion-dollar ecosystem disproportionately extracts wealth from the Global South, where aspiring migrants already face structural economic barriers, turning access to mobility into a luxury commodity.
Background Context
VFS Global, owned by the Abu Dhabi-based fund Equistone Partners, operates as a monopoly intermediary for consulates in over 140 countries, handling millions of applications annually. Its rise coincides with the growing securitization of migration, where outsourcing administrative functions to private firms has become a lucrative substitute for state capacity—or a way to privatize the costs of exclusion.
What Happens Next
As scrutiny intensifies, diplomatic pressure may force consulates to re-evaluate exclusive contracts with VFS, but the company’s lobbying power and embedded infrastructure could delay meaningful reform. Meanwhile, the global backlog of visa applications—fueled by post-pandemic demand and embassies’ understaffing—risks creating a parallel market where only the wealthiest or most connected secure passage.
Bigger Picture
This is not an isolated case but part of a broader pattern where states outsource the financial and logistical burdens of border control to private actors, shifting the burden of proof onto applicants while enriching third-party contractors. The visa industrial complex mirrors other extractive systems, where mobility itself has become a service sold to the highest bidder, deepening inequality across geopolitical lines.
