The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has awarded VFS Global an extension to its global contract for visa processing services. The contract extension covers four regions – Asia and Oceania, Europe and Russia, Middle East and Africa, and the Americas. VFS Global has been serving the Royal Norwegian Government since 2010 and currently operates 101 visa application centres across 39 countries for Norway. The contract renewal was signed by Per Egil Selvaag, director general, The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Chris Dix, head – business development, VFS Global.
VFS Global processes approximately 260,000 Norway visa applications globally each year. Dix said, “We are delighted to continue our partnership with the Norwegian government. This is not only commercially important for VFS Global, but also demonstrates the Norwegian government’s satisfaction with and trust in VFS Global, and further reinforces our company’s position as the leading visa services partner to Schengen member states and to 57 client governments worldwide.”
The Royal Norwegian Government reported the country’s tourism industry had another record year in 2016, following strong growth in the number of visitors in 2015. Figures compiled by Statistics Norway showed average annual growth in the number of foreign visitors to Norway has exceeded the international average since 2010. The tourism industry accounted for over four per cent of value creation and almost nine per cent of employment in the Norwegian business community in 2015. Nearly 160,000 people work in the tourism industry in Norway. Travellers from China, Russia, Thailand and India account for most of the inbound traffic into Norway.
In 2017, VFS Global has been awarded contracts for seven new client governments – Bahrain, Cote D’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Georgia, Nigeria, Slovakia and Ukraine.
