The visa system should not be run as a money-making scam

There is nothing wrong with the principle of reasonable charges for passports and visas, but the aim should be to cover costs, rather than to make a profit for the taxpayer

We report alarming evidence today that the profit motive is being brought into immigration decisions in ways that may distort the impartial administration of a sensitive public service.

Since the UK visa system was outsourced five years ago to VFS, a Dubai-based company, immigration lawyers say the quality of service has deteriorated, and that visa applicants feel pressured by aggressive sales pitches to buy “premium” services they do not need.

This follows concern about the contracting of the Home Office’s in-country visa system to Sopra Steria, a French company, in November, which has, according to lawyers, led to unlawful and incorrect decisions and inflated prices.

The Independent has always advocated a liberal market economy as the most powerful engine of material progress, and has no quarrel with the profit motive being harnessed to provide public services. GPs, after all, are private contractors to the NHS, and many companies provide project management skills that are simply not available in the public sector.

But it is critical that incentives in public services are aligned with the interests of the consumers of such services rather than the providers. That would seem to be the risk in these two visa contracts. Any holidaymaker who has recently applied for a European Health Insurance Card ought to be aware of a number of online scammers who will charge for obtaining a card from the NHS, which anyone can do for themselves for free.

The visa contract appears to give VFS an incentive to behave like a scammer, charging extra for services of no benefit to the applicant, when it is supposed to be acting on behalf of the Home Office in the public interest.

What makes the situation worse is that the Home Office itself has an incentive to perpetuate the system, because it takes a share of the profits from visa charges.

Again, there is nothing wrong with the principle of reasonable charges for passports and visas, but the aim should be to cover costs rather than to make a profit for the taxpayer. There would be no objection to VFS itself making a reasonable profit from the efficient and fair administration of visa applications, but the contract should not reward poor service, or provide an incentive to sting vulnerable applicants with charges for services they do not need.

Sometimes, profit really is a dirty word.