The US government uses CSC’s call-center service at around 40 of its diplomatic missions around the world
Ukrainians traveling to the West will increasingly begin their visa-application process by ringing a private call center based abroad, which Kyiv-based diplomats say will make the procedure more convenient at a small charge to applicants.
But for one US-based company, the Kyiv operations are just the tip of a $100 million iceberg in contracts with the US State Department to help it handle its mountain of visa requests.
As of March 22, Ukrainians applying for a US visa will have to make an appointment through a California headquartered company called Computer Science Corporation (CSC), whose operators in Poland will schedule the appointment and answer basic application questions.
“They won’t go into case-specific information,” United States Consul General in Kyiv Landen Taylor told the Post in an interview.
CSC’s call-center service, which Taylor said the US government uses at around 40 of its diplomatic missions around the world, will cost $12 for eight minutes of telephone.
“We like to point out that no applicant will be cut off in the middle of asking a question if his eight minutes has expired,” Taylor said.
The appointment-scheduling fee will be in addition to the $100, non-refundable visa application fee already charged by the US embassy in Kyiv, which was established by the US Congress.
CSC, through its call center in Poland, will schedule interview appointments for all non-immigrant and some immigrant visa categories, Taylor said, and provide information largely available on the US Embassy website.
“We want to improve our customer service and make it a little more customer-friendly,” he said.
After March 22, all appointments will be scheduled via the call center, Landon said.
US Embassy Consul General in Kyiv, Landen Taylor, said that a private American company will be lifting the visa request load for a small fee. The new procedure is intended to make customer service more effective and friendly. (Courtesy photo)
Applicants can schedule appointments for up to five family members for the same $12 charge.
Ukrainians will find out whether their application has been accepted during the interview, not over the phone, Taylor added.
“The United States has currently contracted with call centers in over 50 different countries around the globe, from Guatemala to the United Kingdom and Russia to the Philippines. These call centers ask minimal personal information from our applicants and take the utmost care to ensure that this is securely stored,” reads a written statement released by the US Embassy in Kyiv.
“All adjudication decisions are made by US Consular Officers, and all information about the final decision on an application is kept within the Consular Section,” the statement continues.
Use of the call centers will be mandatory and applicants will have to pay a nominal fee. In return, the embassy said, “applicants receive more information about visas, the application and interview process, and come better prepared for their visa interview.”
Publicly traded CSC announced on Jan. 18, 2001 that it had been awarded two 10-year contracts by the US Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, to assist US embassies and consulates worldwide in providing visa information and support services. Both contracts have a one-year base period and nine one-year options, and have a combined value of more than $100 million if all options are exercised.
“Under the contracts, CSC will implement e-government solutions to improve visa processing and issuance services in countries around the world. The company will operate customer contact centers with integrated voice response systems, live operators, automated fax-back systems and web services to support a variety of consular office services, including the issuance of visas for travel to the United States,” reads a statement published by CSC on its website.
“We are enthusiastic about providing this service to the State Department,” said Steve Kalish, president of CSC’s Civil Group. “We’re confident in the abilities and experience of our team, and we look forward to making worldwide travel a less complicated experience.”
“The Bureau of Consular Affairs, faced with burgeoning numbers of clients and the reality of an ever-shrinking workforce, recognized the value and the impact that technology could make,” CSC said in its statement.
CSC, founded in 1959, describes itself as “one of the world’s leading consulting and IT services firms.”
Boasting around 77,000 employees in 80 countries globally, CSC offers consulting, outsourcing and systems integration services. Last year, the US-based company reported an annual net income of $634 million.
Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands have also announced cooperation between their consular services and an overseas call center.
On Feb. 19, Germany began working with an Indian company founded six years ago called VFS Global.
“VFS only organizes the scheduling of appointments on behalf of the German Embassy,” German Embassy spokesman Marko Lints told the Post.
“The company has set up a shop for staff here in Ukraine and has employed Ukrainians to work,” he added.
In addition to the German Embassy’s usual visa application fee, VFS will receive Hr 35 ($7) per applicant for its services.
“The only thing that changes is that the German Embassy will not accept badly prepared or incomplete applications any more. The Embassy has put a lot of effort into her new information leaflets for visa applications to assist the applicants to understand what the Embassy is verifying and which documents we would like to see, that applications which do not fulfill the basic requirements will be rejected. The applicant will be asked to schedule a new appointment,” Lints said.
Like the US Embassy, the German embassy said it is introducing the new system to make applying for a visa easier on Ukrainians.
“Money is saved only by the vast majority of Ukrainian applicants who do not live in the vicinity of the Embassy and who can now conveniently book their appointments from their home either by phone or on the Internet.”
According to Lints, “other EU embassies will follow shortly,” with the implementation of the scheduling of visa interviews through call centers.
VFS boasts contracts with 14 different countries, including the UK, which uses VFS in several countries, such as Russia. The US and several other Western countries also use VFS, but only in India or the South Asia region.
