For immigrants travelling from Ireland to Spain, hidden and unexpected visa-related fees can add up quickly

Denis Sitnikov and his partner were planning a trip to the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains in Andalusia in southern Spain.

“Skiing in the Sierra Nevada mountains was on my wish list for 2024,” he wrote in an email to the Embassy of Spain in Dublin on 3 January.

But holding an Irish Residence Permit (IRP) doesn’t unlock the rest of the European Union for immigrants from outside of the zone – like Sitnikov. Ireland is not a party to the Schengen agreement.

Sitnikov and his wife need to get a Schengen visa to travel to Spain.

Like the embassies of some other European countries, the Spanish embassy outsources its visa-processing services to a private company. In its case, that company is BLS International.

Applicants need to visit its website, set up an account, and refresh and refresh the page until a free slot shows.

It’s not easy. Immigrants have said that these kinds of appointments are scarce and can get swept up by bots to be sold in a shadow market.

After two days of trying, Sitnikov realised that he couldn’t get a normal appointment, he said last Friday. “It was only premium.”

Private visa-processing companies charge extra for a better experience under premium plans.

A post on the website of the Spanish embassy in Dublin dated 28 June 2023 says BLS has discontinued its “premium lounge” and mobile biometric services. The latter is an option to have your biometric data and visa application paperwork picked up at home for yet another extra cost.

But on Thursday, a staffer for BLS said by phone that its premium lounge service is still running and costs €65 per person. As of Saturday, the biometric service was available for booking on its website too.

Spokespeople for the Spanish Foreign Affairs Ministry and BLS International did not respond to queries sent last Tuesday, including those asking about the discrepancy.

For now, the process is opaque and laden with hidden fees for immigrants who want to visit other parts of Europe, making it harder for them to move around the zone.

“Be transparent about the information,” says Sitnikov.

What’s going on?

Sitnikov’s colleague had managed to grab a normal appointment, he says.

Since Sitnikov couldn’t find a price for premium on the BLS website, he thought maybe there was no premium service after all, he says.

“I thought maybe it’s a glitch, maybe if you choose premium, you kind of choose normal,” said Sitnikov on Friday, sitting at a city café.

The BLS website only mentions a service fee of around €17 on top of the €80 visa application fee for adults.

But when Sitnikov called the company, a staffer said its premium service still exists and costs €65 per person. That is €130 extra for two people.

Angry to be pushed to pay more, Sitnikov sent a long email to the Spanish embassy in Dublin on 3 January.

In the email, he mentioned the discrepancy in the information on the embassy’s website and what’s on offer from BLS, sharing screenshots as proof.

But “What else can you do if all flights booked, hotel prepaid, and BLS refuses to get your application unless you pay for mandatory “premium” appointment?” he wrote.

The practice discredits the embassy and stains Spain’s reputation, wrote Sitnikov. He hasn’t heard back from them yet, he says.

What am I paying more for?

Back in September 2023, Sankalp Panghal was trying to get an appointment from BLS.

He’s big into soccer and wanted to travel to Spain to catch an El Clásico match, he says, a mighty clash between Real Madrid and Barcelona.

After countless attempts, he finally got a normal appointment, said Panghal, who’s left a one-star review for BLS on Google.

But at the BLS office, he saw those who’d paid for premium were unsure about their special rights, he said – waiting around alongside others.

“Then they came out and said, ‘Okay, if anybody’s premium, you shouldn’t be waiting,’” says Panghal. “They should’ve told them before, that’s what I thought.”

One key point in Sitnikov’s email is the ambiguity around the perks of the premium plan when the embassy’s website says it has been scrapped. And the BLS website does not list it as an additional service.

Sitnikov says he asked them about it on the phone, and the BLS staffer stammered a bit and said something about special attention and cold drinks.

“Who cares about cold drinks when applying for a visa?” said Sitnikov on Friday.

Extra extra

Outsourcing visa processing services to private companies can help countries amp up profit from migrants’ visa applications.

Between 2014 to 2019, the Home Office boosted its profit margins on visa applications to the United Kingdom from £28.73 to £122.56 after subcontracting VFS Global, according to the Independent.

VFS is a giant outsourcing firm founded in Mumbai in 2001 and headquartered in Dubai. It has almost 3,380 application centres in 149 countries, according to its website.

The Irish government also hires it to process visa applications to Ireland in several countries, including India and Russia.

VFS processes Schengen visa applications on behalf of other European countries, including Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland in Dublin, too.

Sometimes, there can be other extra services on top of premium plans, which means even steeper top-up fees.

It’s unclear how much BLS International’s mobile biometric service – home collection of applicants’ visa paperwork and biometric data –  costs. But that seems to be separate from its premium lounge plan.

“BLS is pleased to offer Mobile Biometric Services as a convenient and time-saving way of submitting your visa Applications from the comfort of your home or office as per convenience,” says its website.

In May 2023, Lijie Shao, a Chinese immigrant in the city, said they told her it’d cost €200.

There are also prime-time appointments. That means booking an appointment outside of the office’s working hours, according to BLS’s visa office website in the United States. It costs $70 per application, it says.

When Sitnikov was trying to get a slot here in Ireland, prime time popped up as an option too.

Panghal, the man who wanted to go to Spain for an El Clásico match, says it’s painful to find appointment slots and not cheap to get a visa, even without extra fees.

“The appointment fee is €80, but on the spot it is €140, with all the duties and the tax that they add,” said Panghal on Thursday evening.

Migrants have said in the past that as Schengen visas become less accessible, it can impact their careers when it means they can’t make it to important academic conferences around Europe.

In the end, Sitnikov, the man who wanted to ski in the Sierra Nevada mountains, cancelled his premium appointment, he says. In part because he couldn’t get one on the same day for his wife.

But also because he didn’t want to validate something that he thought was unfair. “It was my rebellion,” said Sitnikov. They decided to go to Portugal instead. It doesn’t outsource its visa service.