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The pain of the British Visa

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I had once thought of getting a British Visa for a couple of reasons. I wanted to take Advanced tests of ISTQB and they only offer the exams in the UK. Also, Indian food in The Netherlands is generally pathetic and the idea of having some authentic food in Southall was very tempting indeed.

So I visited the website of the UK Embassy in The Netherlands and landed at this page.
http://ukinnl.fco.gov.uk/en/visiting-uk/visas/
According to this site, they have stopped accepting visa applications in Amsterdam. Visa applicants are directed to the website of Worldbridge, a company to which the process of collecting and forwarding the Visa applications has been outsourced to. This page also says that the applicants will now have to travel to Dusseldorf in person to submit the applications.

So now, if I have to apply for the British Visa, I will have to drive over 200 kilometers (and back) to submit my application, because the idiots need my biometric information at the time of application. This explains why my friend is ready to pay EUR 315 for a two year tourist visa, simply to avoid the hassle of multiple visits to Dusseldorf.

The misery does not end here. From June 27, the center in Dusseldorf has stopped processing the visa applications there. Instead, these applications are forwarded to the UK for further processing. Hence they are able to only process 90% of the applicants in three weeks. One is advised to submit their visa applications at least 15 days before the intended travel. Since the process of preparing the necessary documentation can take a couple of days, it puts a lot of strain on people like us to plan really in advance.

Now I am thinking if its worth to go through the hassle of the British Visa. Or really take the bitter pill of Inburgering and say goodbye to this Visa scam once and for all.
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