On behalf of the government of The Netherlands, VFS Global has launched The Netherlands Passport and ID Application Centre in London as an extension to its visa processing services. Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Simon Smits inaugurated the centre in London on 10 January.  The centre will accept first applications for a Dutch passport or ID card, as well as applications for renewals. The Dutch diaspora in the UK is expected to benefit from this new service, which has the advantage that it is also open outside of office hours: on Thursday evenings and Saturdays.

Key services delivered at the centre are:

• Passport Application processing for Adults (New & Renewal)
• Passport Application processing for Minors (New & Renewal)
• Business Passport Application processing (New & Renewal)
• ID Card Application processing (New & Renewal)
• ID Card Application processing for minors (New & Renewal)

The contract was awarded to VFS Global after a successful pilot managing the same services in Edinburgh. A similar centre is expected to go live in the US later this quarter. This is the first Schengen government for which VFS Global will provide passport and ID card services.

The world’s largest outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions worldwide, VFS Global has been providing visa services for the Netherlands’ government since 2006 and currently operates 80 Visa Application Centres across 36 countries on its behalf. With 2,834 Application Centres, operations in 141 countries across five continents and over 187 million applications processed as of 30 November 2018, VFS Global is the trusted partner of 62 client governments.