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- Disclaimer- Courier service
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VFS Visa Processing South Africa Pty. Ltd (hereinafter
referred to as "VFS")is an outsource partner of
the UK Border Agency in South Africa. In this capacity,
VFS receives supporting documents and applicable fees for
visa processing; from visa applicants applying for a visa
to enter the UK. After visa applications are assessed by
the UK Border Agency at the British High Commission in Pretoria,
VFS facilitates the return of supporting documents to visa
applicants, except where the UK Border Agency decides to
return supporting documents directly to an applicant. |
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VFS does hereby declare that it has no role in the assessment
of a visa application, which is the sole prerogative of
the UK Border Agency. VFS will not be liable or responsible
for any delay in the processing or rejection of any visa
applications, once the documents have been delivered to
the UK Border Agency. |
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VFS takes every precaution in handling passports and documents
submitted by applicants. The handling of passports and documents
are also subject to unforeseen events and circumstances
outside VFS' control and cannot be attributable to any act
or failure to take preventive action by VFS. Such events
and circumstances will not include any industrial action
occurring within VFS or any of its sub-contractors. |
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VFS offers a courier return service, for returning processed
applications to visa applicants upon request and for a prescribed
fee. Visa applicants who choose to use the service agree
and accept that the courier acceptance and delivery service
(which documents are returned to the applicants by VFS)
is operated by a third-party and is not within the control
of VFS. VFS does not control or operate any courier company
and disclaims all liability towards any loss or damage caused
to the applicant in the event that the applicant's documents
are delayed, misplaced, lost or damaged by the courier company:
or if such delay, misplacement, loss or damage arises from
negligence, accident or any other cause. |
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It is further clarified that in no event shall VFS or
its representatives be liable for any direct, indirect,
punitive, incidental, special, consequential damages or
any damages due to such delay, misplacement, loss or damage
of the documents, including the applicant's passport. Without
prejudice to the aforesaid, VFS's and its representatives
sole and exclusive liability in case of all or any loss
or damage in transit of a passport only is limited to the
reimbursement of the amount of fees charged by the Department
of Foreign Affairs, Republic of South Africa: for the replacement
of a lost or damaged passport through normal application
procedures. |
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Such reimbursement of the fee amount will be made by VFS
to the applicant only on the presentation by the applicant
of the payment receipt issued by the Department of Foreign
Affairs, Republic of South Africa. The applicant agrees
that the foregoing limitation of liability is an agreed
allocation of risk between the parties and this limitation
of liability is and shall be an integral part of this disclaimer. |
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VFS will not be responsible or liable for any consequential
loss or damage that may be caused to the applicant due to
loss of passport and related documents. It is understood
that when the applicant or representative of the applicant
submits the passport and related documents along with the
applicable visa fees; the applicant has understood the terms
and conditions and details as mentioned herein. The fees
once paid by the applicant are not refundable under any
circumstances. |
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No employee of VFS has any right or authority to change,
amend or amplify the contents mentioned herein. |
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Dispute of any nature, the jurisdiction will be in Johannesburg,
South Africa. |
- SMS Service: Disclaimer and Terms and Conditions
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The Short Messaging Service ('SMS') provided to visa applicants
is to update the applicants on the current status of the
process of their visa application. The information provided
by SMS is based on the information provided by the UK Border
Agency at the British High Commission in Pretoria, South
Africa. VFS ensures information is made available to the
visa applicant promptly and accurately. The visa applicant
shall at all times be responsible for providing and maintaining
an SMS text compatible mobile phone number, where VFS can
send text messages regarding the status of the visa application
to the visa applicant. The visa applicant is responsible
for ensuring connection to a mobile network capable of receiving
the SMS Services. If the visa applicant's mobile phone is
switched off, disconnected for any reasons or is out of
coverage for a period of 24 hours or more, the visa applicant's
mobile network provider may delete any SMS messages to be
received by the visa applicant. |
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The time to deliver the SMS is dependent on several factors
such as; the traffic on the mobile network and whether the
visa applicant's mobile phone is within reach, switched
on and cannot be guaranteed by VFS. VFS is not a mobile
network operator and does not guarantee the delivery of
SMS text messages. |
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The visa applicant confirms that VFS has been provided
with the accurate mobile number for receiving SMS and that
the visa applicant is the owner or its legitimate user,
or that the visa applicant has the consent of the owner
or legitimate user, of the mobile phone being used for the
service. The visa applicant acknowledges that using another
person's mobile phone, providing an inaccurate mobile phone
number, unauthorised use of mobile phone number for receiving
the SMS, may entail disclosure of the visa applicant 's
confidential information. The disclosure is at the sole
risk of the visa applicant. |
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The services, once purchased, will be available to the
visa applicant from the time of application till complete
processing of the application or such other period as VFS
may advise via our website located at www.vfs-uk-za.com.
VFS reserves the right to withdraw this service at any time
and without notice. |
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The visa applicant must not use (or permit any third party
to use) the SMS Service to send any message or communication
which is Spam, illegal, offensive, abusive, indecent, obscene
,menacing or causes annoyance, inconvenience, needless anxiety
or infringes the rights of third parties. VFS reserves the
right to withdraw the SMS service to such visa applicant
if the visa applicant is in breach of this paragraph 4.
VFS may also withdraw the services if VFS in its sole discretion
believes that the SMS service is being used for such purposes.
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For operational reasons VFS may vary the technical specification
of the services with or without notice. In the event of
any change to the service the 'Terms and Conditions' are
to be treated as varied accordingly. |
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The visa applicant acknowledges that the SMS services
may, at any time, be adversely affected by problems with
the visa applicant mobile phone network, events including,
without limitation, interference to the network coverage.
VFS is not responsible or liable to the visa applicant for
any loss, damage or expenses incurred directly or indirectly
by the visa applicant as a result of any difficulties experienced
by the visa applicant's mobile phone service provider. Subject
to the constraints described within this paragraph 7, VFS
shall carry out the services with reasonable care. |
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If the visa applicant does not receive SMS relating to
these services. The visa applicant should inform VFS through
info@vfs-uk-za.com
or call our helpdesk at +27 (0) 82 234 4450 |
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The SMS service delivers the visa application status based
on the information received by VFS from the UK Border Agency,
Pretoria. |
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To use the services, The visa applicant should refer to
the instructions available on the www.vfs-uk-za.com
website. The visa applicant agrees to comply with all instructions
we may give concerning the services, including any security
instructions. VFS will be entitled to treat any failure
by visa applicant to comply with these instructions as a
breach of these 'Terms and Conditions', which will entitle
VFS to deny the visa applicant access to the services. |
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The visa applicant is responsible for paying charges for
the message origination. Charges once paid for the SMS service
will not be refunded under any circumstances. |
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The visa applicant shall at its sole risk be responsible
for taking all reasonable steps to prevent unauthorised
persons gaining access to the services. |
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While VFS takes every precaution transmission of information
to transmit information. VFS shall not be responsible or
liable for any unforeseen events and circumstances beyond
the reasonable control of VFS. |
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VFS may at its sole discretion temporarily suspend the
provision of the services if such provision could materially
affect the quality of any telecommunications service, including
the services, provided by VFS. |
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VFS specifically excludes all liability of any kind (including
negligence) in respect of any third party information or
other material made available on, or which can be accessed
using SMS text services. |
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This 'Terms and Conditions' is governed by the laws of
Republic of South Africa and both parties submit to the
exclusive jurisdiction of the courts in Johannesburg South
Africa. |
- Data Protection notice
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Collection of data
The privacy and protection of personal data is very important
to VFS Visa processing SA Pty Ltd, including all its other
brands and affiliates (hereinafter 'VFS'). VFS complies
with any mandatory data protection legislation when collecting
and processing personal data. Whenever you are in the process
of applying for SMS service through a visa application centre
we may collect and store (subject to UK Border Agency guidelines),
as the case may be, the following information: your full
name, your mobile number, email id, your language preference
of SMS, and the country for which you have applied for a
visa for the purposes of processing your visa application.
Your information is held by us in the computer server(s)
located in UK, London and India, Mumbai. It will also be
accessed and held by our affiliates currently based in India.
Any transfers of your personal data to foreign locations
are made in accordance with the Data Protection Act. |
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Disclosure to third parties
In accordance with all mandatory data protection legislation
your data may be disclosed to third parties processing data
on behalf of VFS. In this context your data may also be
transferred abroad. Your data may be disclosed within VFS
to other than the collecting entity. Data may be used by
these other VFS entities to the same extent as the collecting
VFS entity is entitled to use it. Your data is treated as
confidential and will not be disclosed to third parties,
save for the purpose of VFS fulfilling its contractual obligations
vis-à-vis you, or if required under mandatory law,
particularly if requested by the competent authorities or
for the purpose of enforcing VFS' rights. |
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Use of data
Collected data will be processed in good faith and will
be used in order to transmit your visa applicantion status
via SMS and email. We do not intend to use your information
for any other purpose, except that if you have given consent,
we may use your information for the purposes of sending
you related marketing information (such as airline advertisements),
which is normally included by us when we return your passport
to you or sent to you by email if you have given us an email
address for that purpose. You can always refuse to receive
such offers and information for which you may please contact
us by email at info@vfs-uk-za.com
or call our helpdesk at +27 (0) 82 234 4450. |
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Terms and Conditions: Security
Terms and Conditions
VFS reserves the right to request any person who, in the
sole opinion of VFS, does not conduct himself or herself
in a proper and/or reasonable manner to leave the premises
of VFS immediately. The following conduct will be declared
unsatisfactory to VFS which includes but is not limited
to: refusing to adhere to any reasonable instructions by
VFS, refusing to allow a security guard to conduct a body
search in compliance with any law, if requested to do so,
using abusive or foul language, and/or refusing to adhere
to any notices put up by VFS. |
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1. No weapons policy:
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It is the aim of VFS to create a safe environment
at their premises for their employees, clients and
any person who is lawfully entitled to enter our premises; |
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No person, including any person who owns a lawful
licence, may be permitted to enter the premises
of VFS who knowingly possesses, has under the person's
control, or conveys a firearm or other dangerous
weapon howsoever arising;
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Carrying a firearm onto the premises of VFS shall
be in violation of our policy and shall be considered
to be an act of criminal trespass and will be grounds
for immediate removal by VFS and may furthermore
result in prosecution;
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d. |
This policy applies to all of VFS's directors,
their employees, contractors and temporary employees,
clients and any other person that enters into the
premises of VFS, regardless of whether they are
licensed to carry a firearm. The only exceptions
to this policy visiting VFS premises on official
duty and not as applicants or prospective applicants.
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VFS reserves the right to conduct a search on any
person, vehicle or object that enters the premises
of VFS;
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This policy shall not be construed as to create
any duty or obligation on the part of VFS to take
any actions beyond those required by VFS in accordance
with their rights in law;
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Failure to abide by the terms and conditions of
this weapons policy may result in a person being
requested to leave the premises of VFS immediately
or any other rights that VFS shall be entitled to
in law.
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