VFS Premium Application Center - Chicago

Emily Sharata

TL;DR VERSION: This is the Fyre Festival of visa application centers. Bring a book while they torture you in the waiting room for potentially many hours. LONG VERSION: Had a 1 pm appointment and wasn’t seen until an hour later. Then had to wait another 30 mins for biometrics. The clerks here don’t seem to respect your time and don't care about serving you in a timely manner. My clerk was unapologetic and unhelpful. When I asked, she couldn't tell me if I needed to include a photocopy or an original of one of my documents. Don’t forget to bring a photocopy of your passport which is a document not on any of the checklists. If you don't have it they will charge you $1 to scan and print it for you. It was infuriating to pay close to $200 to be treated with such disrespect. For me, the icing on the case was as you sit in the waiting room, wasting your life away, they play a promotional video for their services showing a VSF agent kindly helping a client prepare their visa application in the comfort of their own home or office. The sick irony. Pro tip: If you are forced to come here, bring a book to read since they don't let you use any electronics (including phones) in the waiting area. EDIT: This place charged me for my visa application fees that should have been waved. Over a month ago I emailed their customer service asking them for a refund. Got an email back they would refund my fees, but it has been over 3 weeks and they still have my money!

Rosalie M

I had a great experience— was afraid because of the reviews. My appointment was at 1P. I waited maybe 15 mins tops. Make sure you print EVERYTHING and then some— makes the experience way smoother. Annarada was my VFS person and she was so sweet & professional. For reference, I had the Silver Package which should have taken 5-7 business days turnaround time. I went in for my appointment this past Monday, received my decision email on Wednesday, and should be receiving my Visa in the mail today (Thursday). If you go well-prepared, the process will run smoothly.

Happyen Patel

Was nervous walking in. Have bad experiences in the past. I got called and was blessed to have Bakary help me out. He was the just the nicest person one could be. Ran into some solvable issue, which Bakary, patiently, helped me. 5 stars for B

Jennifer O'Donnell

I had an appointment for 9:30am and got there 5 minutes early like I was told to do so and after checking in I ended up waiting about an hour until someone came out and even said anything to me, they then proceeded to take someone back that got there after me and said they had a 10am appointment but I think the man just misheard me so when he came out again I spoke up before he took someone else back and he apologized and brought me back. The actual process took maybe 15/20 minutes and the man was very nice. Overall, I was there for about an hour and a half and most of it was waiting but that was somewhat expected. No cellphone allowed so bring a book or something because you're probably going to be waiting a while. UPDATE: it is Sep 12th and I have yet to hear anything about my visa. I originally wanted to leave tomorrow for the UK but that is no longer possible. Just wish there was a way to be kept updated on the status of my visa because I am currently sitting around waiting for an email with no idea what’s going on.