Public Services and Procurement Canada, on behalf of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, has awarded VFS Global five of the six regions of its global contract for visa application centre services.

The contract covers Europe & CIS, Africa & Middle East, North Asia, South Asia and Australasia.

VFS Global has been serving the Canadian Government since 2005 and currently operates Visa Application Centres (VACs) in five continents for Canada.

This is a very significant win for VFS Global, which handles approximately 1.8 million Canada visa applications globally each year.

Chris Dix, head - Business Development, VFS Global, remarked: "We are privileged to continue our partnership with the Canadian Government. This is not only important because Canada already has the most extensive VAC network in the world where 129 VACs are operated by VFS Global, but also as the award further reinforces our company's position as the leading visa services partner to 58 client governments worldwide."

With Canada having celebrated its 150th Anniversary of Confederation in 2017, tourism interest in Canada has increased significantly. The New York Times picked Canada as its top travel destination for 2017, amongst 52 other locations - signalling just how attractive the country has become to international travellers. According to Destination Canada, the country welcomed a record-breaking 20.8 million tourists in 2017, the highest ever, and this trend is expected to continue.

For VFS Global, 2018 has already been very eventful with the award of the Canadian contracts coming shortly after the decision of the Government of Switzerland to award the company over 80 per cent of its global visa processing contract.

VFS Global is the trusted partner to 58 client governments worldwide, offering a range of visa, permit, passport, and consular services. - TradeArabia News Service