1. Who we are. Mobile Visa Service was established in 1996 as a sole proprietorship. It has traded continuously since 1996 and was incorporated at Companies House as a private limited company on 19 May 2003 with the name Mobile Visa Service Limited under Company No. 4765542. Its registered office is at the address of its accountants, Maurice J Bushell & Co, Curzon House, 64 Clifton Street, London EC2A 4HU. (Please note that the registered office address does NOT accept passports or visa applications).
2. Definitions. "We" refers to Mobile Visa Service Ltd and/or any member of its staff. "Embassy" refers to any Embassy, Consulate or High Commission. "Department" refers to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (Australia) or any other government department.
3. Australian Visas and Migration. We subscribe to the Migration Agents Registration Authority's (MARA's) Code of Conduct in all Australian visa and migration work undertaken. Should there be any conflict between any of our Terms and Conditions and MARA's Code of Conduct such conflict is unintentional and MARA's Code of Conduct shall be deemed to have preference over our Terms and Conditions and any of our Terms and Conditions deemed to be in conflict with MARA's Code of Conduct shall be deemed to be null and void.
4. Our duty to you. We will work in your best interests at all times and will process your application with care and attention to the best of our ability. We understand that your passport is your most important document and that it is natural to be concerned about it. We hope that by providing you with information about how we work that this will alleviate some of your concerns. Most of our business comes from repeat clients and personal recommendations from clients who have used our service. Therefore, it is important to us that you feel happy with the service and understand our methods of work. The purpose of using a visa service is to save you the time and stress of having to go through the process yourself. The staff at Mobile Visa Service Ltd. have more than 23 years of experience between them and we would not have remained in business if we were not competent and careful in our very responsible work.
5. What we do. Mobile Visa Service Ltd. will offer advice, provide information and visa application forms, check and assist with filling application forms, check documents and arrange collection of documents from city offices and from Canary Wharf, and from Suite 416, Citibox, 2 Old Brompton Road, SW7 3DQ (South Kensington tube) (where your documents may be left if you are outside our area of collection), receive documents by post and in person at 23 Ashlake Road, London SW16 2BB (by appointment), deliver documents to Embassies, Consulates and High Commissions in London and collect documents from Embassies, Consulates and High Commissions in London, send and receive documents to and from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship in Australia and professional assessing bodies and return documents to clients when visas have been processed.
We collect documents daily from Citibox, 2 Old Brompton Road, but please note that this is a mail collection address only and staff at Old Brompton Road will not be able to assist with visa queries. Any enquiries should be directed to Mobile Visa Service Ltd on the above numbers.
During busy periods we may be unable to pick up and deliver from your offices and you may need to bring or post your application to one of our offices. This will apply to the two week period prior to public holidays as we receive a high volume of applications. During these periods we will concentrate our efforts on processing all visas in time for travel before the holidays and, therefore, will be unable to offer the more personal service we can at other, less busy, times of the year. We appreciate your understanding at these times.
6. Hours of trading 10 am to 7.30 pm Monday to Friday. Closed weekends and all public holidays.
Collection or dropping off of documents is generally by appointment. Documents may be handed to the Receptionist without an appointment at Citibox, 2 Old Brompton Road, SW7 3DQ in an envelope marked "Mobile Visa Service - BOX 416" between 9 - 6 Monday to Friday and 9 - 12 on Saturday. A receipt with be provided on request.
7.
After hours applications may be accepted by prior arrangement
by dropping your completed application with all documents and full payment in
an envelope through the letterbox at Mobile Visa Service, 23 Ashlake Road, Streatham,
London SW16 2BB. Please mark the envelope "Mobile Visa Service".
Please do not ring the bell or telephone us after hours. Please do not annoy
residential neighbours by ringing other bells and asking them to take your documents
in. After hours applications are accepted as a favour only if you have made
a prior arrangement with us during office hours. Please respect our staff and
neighbours' right to privacy.
There is a mail flap in the door at Citibox, 2 Old Brompton Road, South Kensington
where you may drop your documents after hours at your own risk. Please put them
in an envelope marked "Mobile Visa Service - Box 416"
if you choose to use this option please let us know that you have done this.
(If you do not put "Box 416" on your application it will not
get to us.) We suggest you come between 9am and 6pm Monday to Friday
or between 9am and 12noon on Saturdays and hand them to the receptionist for
your own peace of mind.
8. Sending documents to us by post. Documents should be sent only by Special Delivery Post (£5 approximately) using the Post Office’s pre-paid silver Special Delivery bag. For a small additional cost you can insure your documents for a higher amount which covers consequential loss, we strongly recommend you do this. If you require your documents to be returned by post it will be necessary to include a self-addressed return pre-paid Special Delivery bag with the necessary extra amount for consequential loss. Kindly let us know by phone or email that you have posted documents.
9. Changes in Regulations/Information. We will endeavour to keep abreast of all new visa information and requirements for the Embassies, Consulates and High Commissions which we handle regularly, however, from time to time Embassies, Consulates or High Commissions may change their visa regulations/information and we cannot be responsible for any inconvenience or loss due to changes of which we are not aware.
10. Accepting your case, completing the work, terminating agreements. We reserve the right to not take on any particular application or case.
Once we have accepted your case we will complete all the work in so far as it is possible according to your instructions. We will not terminate our agreement with you unless there are exceptional circumstances. Examples of exceptional circumstances are: if you instruct us to lodge a case which, in our opinion, has no hope of success or which involves fraud or misrepresentation; if the work becomes more complicated and is no longer within the scope of our experience; the death, accident or serious illness of a member of our staff or other serious incidences of such nature. If we do terminate our work with you, we will give you as much notice as possible and assist you to find another agent willing to take on the work (provided the agreement is not terminated due to the case being hopeless or fraudulent).
You may terminate your agreement with us at any time. We shall be entitled to be paid for any work we have done and for any fees we have paid on your behalf.
11. Our Service Charge. Our charge for processing your visa will be quoted to you at the outset.
The service charge varies depending on the time of year for some visa applications.
There is an additional charge of £20 for urgent applications, which we may accept at our discretion and depending upon the relevant Embassy's policy on urgent applications. We cannot process applications more quickly than any individual Embassy's or Department's processing times, nor do we have the ability to influence any Embassy or government department. In the case the French and Portuguese Embassies ONLY we have our own agency appointments and can often process applications much faster than the general public can usually get an appointment.
Once we have accepted your application our service charge will not change unless we are unable to lodge your documents because we are still waiting for you to provide something and the time which it takes you to provide it means that your application will then have to be lodged during a busier period when we have a higher service charge for that particular Embassy or your application becomes an urgent application for which an additional fee is applicable. You will be advised if this is likely to occur.
The service charge quoted does not include any appeals, reassessments or relodging all of which would incur separate charge should any of them become necessary, unless such is due to our error in which case our liability will be limited to relodging your application without further charge.
Please also see 20. Processing times/Urgent applications.
12. Embassies’ and Department's Visa Fees. We cannot be responsible for any increase in Embassies’ visa fees, in such cases the client will need to cover the additional fee.
13. Additional work. Should additional work be required before we can lodge your visa application, for example to open passport pages, have a passport officially mended by your Embassy or cancel an existing visa or stamp you will be quoted for this separately and this will be in addition to our service charge for processing your visa.
14. Payment for all visas other than Australian visas and migration. Payment is necessary before we can process your application. When we collect from you or from 2 Old Brompton Road visa fees must be paid in cash. Service charge may be paid in cash or by cheque with a valid cheque guarantee card, provided you have 10 days before you travel. Cheques may be accepted for postal applications to cover both visa fees and service charge provided you have 10 days before you travel. If you have less than 10 days before your travel date, payment should be in cash only (applications collected from you personally or from 2 Old Brompton Road) or postal orders (postal applications) which can be bought at the post office.
Please make cheques & postal orders payable to Mobile Visa Service Ltd. A receipt and/or invoice will be provided on request.
Payment for Australian visas and migration. We may accept payment of our fee in installments depending upon the type of application. We shall not be entitled to be paid until we have first provided you with an invoice detailing the breakdown of charges for the work we have completed. We may accept payment of our fee in cash, by cheque or transfer to our bank account.
Payment of visa fees and fees for skills assessments, medicals, police checks, certifying or translating documents and similar are usually made directly to the Department/ High Commission/agency or service provider by yourself and will be required in stages during a migration application and before that particular stage of the application can be lodged.
15. Postage. Payment of local first class postage is included in our fees. Should you require Special Delivery or outside Courier delivery (other than normal delivery of your passport which is done by our staff within central London, Canary Wharf or Wimbledon) the costs will be payable in advance by you at the post office's/courier company's going rate and is additional to our service charge.
16. Copies of Documents. Please ensure you keep copies of all your documents, including your passport and UK visa. We do not keep copies of your documents for our records other than for Australian visa and migration applications and we do not record your passport number other than for Australian visa and migration applications. Once we have lodged your application in the Embassy we may be unable to access this information (other than Australian visa and migration applications where we will keep copies of all information) should you need it for any reason. Embassies often retain bank statements, employers letters and any non-original documents relating to travel, eg. faxes from hotels and internet confirmation. Therefore, if you need this information, it is vital you keep copies.
Should you require copies of documents for your own records we would be pleased to provide them at a cost of 20 pence per page, provided that they are still in our possession.
We are obliged to keep copies of all documents related to Australian visa and migration applications for a period of 7 years. We do not generally keep copies of documents related to any other visa applications.
17. Certified Copies and Translations. Some applications may require documents to be certified or for official translations of documents to be provided. These services are additional and the fee will depend on the company's/Embassy's charge for such service. We may assist with getting documents certified and/or translated by outside companies or Embassies or putting you in touch with these services or delivering/collecting documents to and from such services if we can and if you so require, however, we may make an additional charge of not more than £20 for each additional delivery/collection of documents. This is a charge for the delivery/collection and not per document.
18. Fees for Skills Assessments, CV writing, medicals and police checks for Australian Migration applications. These fees are additional to our service charge and generally payable by you directly to the company providing the services before the service is provided. You will be informed if and when each service/fee is necessary and due.
19. Emergencies/Cancellations/withdrawal of applications. Should you decide to cancel your application after we have received and checked all documents and before the documents have been lodged at the Embassy a cancellation charge of £25 will apply. Some Embassies may not allow cancellation or changes to an application after documents have been lodged at the Embassy and the full service charge and visa fee will usually apply depending upon the individual Embassy's policy and the circumstances of the case. It may be possible to withdraw a passport in an emergency depending on the individual Embassy’s policy, however, visa fees and service charge will still apply and the application may then be deemed to be cancelled by the Embassy and a new application may need to be made in the future incurring new fees. If you need clarification of any particular Embassy's policy in this regard please let us know.
Should you have an out of hours emergency requiring your passport, for example to travel to your home country due to illness or death of a family member and you are unable to contact us please send a text message to 0795 192 3497 and we will do our best to assist you. We will reply to you although there may be a time lag if it is the middle of the night or a holiday period.
20. Change of Travel Date. Should your travel date change after an application is lodged this will normally necessitate a new application being made, and a new visa fee and service charge being paid, except where the Embassy has issued a multiple entry visa in the first instance and the amended dates fall within the validity of that visa.
21. Information Required to Lodge Your Application. You will be provided with information detailing the requirements for your application. The information is provided for your benefit and to give your application the best possible chance of success, however, provision of all information requested does not guarantee a visa. The relevant Embassy or Department will decide whether to grant a visa or migration application. Occasionally the Embassy or Department may request additional documents or that you should appear in person. It will be necessary to comply with these requests and you should, therefore, always allow sufficient time for your application to be processed.
We may, at our discretion, accept your instructions to lodge your documents without all of the information we have requested, however, our service charge will apply should the application be refused. Visa fees are usually also not refundable. If you instruct us to lodge in such circumstances, we will give you our honest opinion of your chances.
22. Processing Times/Urgent Applications. You will be quoted a minimum processing time where possible when you request information. It allows for your documents to be checked and lodged in an orderly manner and provided that you have provided all documents which we have requested at the outset and allowed sufficient time we will re-lodge your application where possible and without further charge on our part should the Embassy request additional documents. Embassies may impose an additional visa fee for re-lodging. The quoted processing times are a guide and may vary during busy periods.
The quoted processing time will start from the time we receive all your documents correctly. We may, at our discretion, accept an application where a client has less than our quoted processing time but where there is sufficient time for the Embassy to process the visa. Where we do accept such an urgent application it will always be dependant upon the documents being supplied as requested at the time we accept the application. If documents are not in order or we have to wait for additional document(s) it may no longer be physically possible for us to lodge your application either because of our prior commitments to other clients or because of the Embassy’s minimum processing time. If this is the case you will be advised and we will return your documents to you. You may be able to apply in person in some cases.
If we accept your urgent application we will do our best for you but we cannot take any responsibility for urgent applications. Clients should be aware that if they leave their application to the last minute there is a very great risk that if something does not go to plan then they will not receive their visa in time to travel.
Among the many things that can go wrong are:
Embassy not accepting your documents the first time;
Embassy’s computer being down;
Embassy changing processing times;
a national holiday of which we are not aware resulting in the Embassy being shut for one or more days;
Embassy strikes;
transport strikes or delays;
flooding or other severe weather;
bomb scares;
terrorism or threat of terrorism;
accidents; or
any other kinds of delays.
Urgent applications where the client requires their passport back within 1 working day of the visa being processed incur an additional charge of £20.
We cannot process applications more quickly than any individual Embassy's or Department's processing times, nor do we have the ability to influence any Embassy or government department.
In the of case the French and Portuguese Embassies ONLY we have our own agency appointments and can often process applications much faster than the general public will be able to get an appointment.
23. Non-Urgent Applications. Visas will normally be processed in order of travel date in the case of tourist and business visas and you will receive your visa in sufficient time to travel where your application is a non-urgent application. Australian Migration applications will be processed in the order in which the applications and any additional documents we are waiting for are received.
24. If you need your passport back for other reasons. Please do not give us your passport and application if you need it back during the process for mortgage applications, national insurance number interviews, to buy travellers cheques or any other such reason. Unless this has been agreed with us beforehand, and where a faster service is required the appropriate fee for an urgent application has been paid, your documents will be processed in the normal manner.
Where a spouse or parent requires their passport back before your application is processed and where we are not processing a visa for them but need their passport in support of your visa application, you must inform us of this at the time we collect your documents in writing or when you post your documents in or leave them at 2 Old Brompton Road, and let us know the date this is needed by. We will do our best to comply with your request if at all possible, either by leaving the documents at Old Brompton Road for you to collect from reception (valid ID will be needed), or at our office in Streatham, or by posting them to you by Special Delivery Post where you have provided us with a Special Delivery Envelope for this purpose (additional to one we would need for the normal return of your documents by Special Delivery). It may be possible, depending on our prior commitments, to deliver them back to you (in central London) upon payment of an additional £20 delivery charge.
If a genuine medical/family emergency occurs during the processing time which requires your urgent travel to your home country please do not hesitate to contact us and we will do our very best to assist you. If you are unable to get through to us or it is after hours please text a message to 0795 192 3497. We will reply to you although there may be a time lag if it is the middle of the night or a holiday period.
25. Checking your documents and communication with you. We will check your documents when we pick them up from you. They will be checked again at our office. If we notice anything which we overlooked the first time we will contact you. We will check your documents when we receive them by post and provided you have given us contact numbers we will let you know either by phone or text message that we have received your documents and that they appear to be in order or inform you of anything else which may be needed. If you have posted your application and have not heard from us within 2 working days to say that we have received it please do call us. You will be given an approximate date of completion at the time we receive your documents, which, provided you have allowed enough time, will be well before your travel date. It will approximate to our minimum processing times on our visa information sheets. The minimum processing time starts from the time we have received all your documents completely and correctly.
We will inform you as soon as we hear anything from the Embassy, either if they have requested additional information or when your visa has been granted. We are aware of your travel dates and process applications in order of travel. Your passport will be delivered or posted back to you or to 2 Old Brompton Road or to our Streatham office generally within 2 -3 days of us informing you that the Embassy has granted your visa and always in time for your travel, provided any payments are cleared. We will inform you again the day we are able to deliver/post your passport and we will let you know when it is available for collection at Old Brompton Road or Streatham. Unless we are delivering the passport back to your offices, communication regarding completed applications will be by text message informing you that the visa has been granted and passport posted or available for collection at Old Brompton Road/Streatham.
Please do not call us if you are not travelling urgently and have not paid an urgent fee between the time we let you know your visa is back and the time we call you to make an appointment to deliver it (normally within 2-3 working days). We greatly appreciate your patience and it assists us enormously during busy periods. If you cannot wait, you may request to collect your passport from Old Brompton Road or from Mobile Visa Service Ltd in Streatham. Your passport will be posted back to you (if a postal application) usually within one working day of us receiving it back from the Embassy, provided cheques have cleared. We will inform you when we expect to be posting your passport back. If you have not received your passport back within 3 working days of your travel date, and if you have not heard anything from us or we have not advised you that it will be completed within this 3 day period, please DO call us.
We can only communicate directly with the person for whom we are processing the visa. It is your responsibility to ensure that the telephone numbers you have given us are correct and messages will be checked by yourself regularly. If any of your numbers change for any reason please inform us in writing.
26. Future communication with you. Mobile Visa Service will retain your details and may contact you in the future with information regarding visas. (If you do not wish to be contacted please indicate this on your Client Contact Information sheet at the time you apply.) We will not pass on your details to any third parties.
27. Disclosure. You must disclose all relevant matters to us before we collect your documents.
This includes but is not limited to:
previous misuse of a visa (particularly obtaining a visa from one Schengen state but not travelling to that state on it first);
breaching the terms of a previous visa issued;
if you have an application already in process;
if you have applied by yourself or through another agency and been refused at any Embassy or by the Department or a skills assessment body or requested to submit other documents;
if you have been banned by any country from obtaining a visa or overstayed or been deported from any country;
if you have any convictions, or have participated in activities likely to cause concern on a visa application;
if you have any health problem;
if you have a relationship with a person of the nationality, or in the country, to which you are now applying for a visa or migration;
if you have a dependant’s visa for the UK;
if your passport expires within 12 months or your UK visa expires within 3 months;
if you have a temporary passport;
if your UK visa is stamped in a previous passport or a separate piece of paper and not in your current passport;
if your current UK visa allows a continuous stay of 6 months or less in the UK (from date of entry/issuance); and
any other fact which may be relevant to your application.
We can often advise you if you disclose the information to us. If you are refused a visa because you have not disclosed some information to us our full service charge will apply.
28. How we keep track of your documents. Your documents and application are checked when we receive them. All the passports will have a sticky white square placed in the upper right hand corner of the front cover. This will have the following information recorded on it: the visa you are applying for, the job number, the travel date (where this is soon we will write it in red so that we can quickly identify urgent applications), how the passport will be returned and any money you still owe us or we owe you. The job number will correspond to a numbered, colour-coded, plastic wallet. All your documents will be placed in your individual, numbered wallet, so that they are at all times together and protected. In addition, in many Embassies we lodge passports with our agency’s tag stapled to the top, which will have our agency’s name and address on it. After we have checked and tagged your documents they are entered in our book under the date in which they come in. The details we record are the file number, surname, initial, passport nationality, visa required, fees paid, date received, date lodged in Embassy, date back from Embassy, date returned to client. The passports are recorded in our diary under Embassy headings on the day in which they are lodged at the Embassy. We then record them in red in the diary under date the Embassy has given us for collection.
29. Our responsibility to safeguard your documents. We have a responsibility to safeguard your documents whilst they are in our possession and we take this responsibility very seriously. Our premises at Streatham is fitted with an ADT alarm, fire alarm and CO2 detector. The alarm is monitored and police/fire brigade notified automatically if it should be activated. In addition, your documents are stored in a fire proof safe.
We have agreed policies about how documents should be carried in bags and how bags should be safeguarded whilst your documents are in transit around London. We will never leave a bag unattended. However, as we are travelling around London on public transport there remains a small risk whilst documents are in transit, the same as if you are carrying your documents to the Embassy or to or from your place of work or residence yourself, and you understand that this risk exists and agree to indemnify us against it.
We accept no responsibility for any loss/damage or delay arising when documents are in the possession of an Embassy, the post office or an outside company, agency or Department. Should anything unforeseen occur we will do our best to help you and to remedy the situation as far as is possible. However, we do not accept responsibility for loss howsoever arising, unless that loss occurs directly because of our wilful negligence, and it remains your responsibility at all times to ensure that either you have adequate travel insurance (which should start from the day you pay for your trip and not from the day you actually travel) or that all travel and accommodation is fully refundable in the event of any unforeseen occurrence. Our responsibility is limited at all times only to your passport and visa when these are in our direct possession and we cannot accept responsibility for loss or delay to your travel arrangements or accommodation or any claims for consequential loss (such as loss of earnings, etc.) whatsoever or howsoever arising. We do not accept responsibility for an Embassy refusing a visa or not processing it on time, particularly where you have allowed insufficient time or not supplied the documents requested on time.