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Most European citizens will likely never have heard of VFS Global. But across much of Africa, Asia + the Middle East, the visa giant has become notorious Our investigation finds VFS has made huge profits by exploiting people with 'weak' passports

Through FOI disclosure, financial records, source interviews + data analysis, we found that VFS – which is contracted by 71 govts to carry out visa administration – routinely misleads + pressures applicants to buy costly services that should be optional

Sales of extra services have become central to VFS’s business: our analysis of 2K+ Swedish visa applicant receipts from 16 countries indicates they account for 30% of its revenue The company's operating profits have surged from €31m to €172m in 7 years

Hundreds of pages of internal documents show European govts that outsource visa administration to VFS are well aware of the problems – which sometimes amount to breaches of its legal obligations – but have failed to take meaningful action

This was a collaborative effort involving @indianexpress.com, @rfi.fr, Actualite.cd, @spiegel.de, @twalainfo.bsky.social, @lesreportersn.bsky.social, @initiumnews.nzcow.com, @lemonde.fr, @kisadalgamedya.bsky.social, @news24southafrica.bsky.social, The Nation Nigeria, Nation Africa, @politico.eu