The Malaysian government has announced that the VFS Global Visa Application Centre (VAC) at Kuala Lumpur can now operate at an extended operational capacity of 50%. VFS have also added an additional Visa Application Centre at Kuala Lumpur to cater to the huge student demand for appointments.

The Foreign Minister announced on Saturday,14 August, that the National Security Council is allowing VFS VAC at Kuala Lumpur to resume operations under strict operating procedures that include limiting the number of people that may be permitted on premises. This was announced after concerns had been raised about the large number of Malaysian students facing difficult in applying for visas to travel overseas to study.

In addition, VFS confirmed on 18 August the opening of an additional Visa Application Centre at Brickfield Asia College (BAC), in Kuala Lumpur. This will operate alongside the existing VAC and visa applicants will be able to choose either location when booking or re-scheduling their appointment/s.

Source: https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2021/08/14/visa-processing-centre-can-now-reopen-in-phase-one-nrp-hishammuddin-tells-m/1997588

Source: https://twitter.com/VFSGlobal/status/1427597716377407496

Source: https://www.vfsglobal.co.uk/my/en/vacs

Comments by British Council:

VFS announced much awaited confirmation of additional operational capacity and additional VAC in Kuala Lumpur to cater to student visa demand by Malaysian students.

The VFS visa application centre at KL had re-opened and resumed operations on 4 August, but with limited capacity capped at 30%. This has been now extended to 50% operational capacity along with the opening of a new VAC at  Brickfield Asia College (BAC).  

It is hoped that with this increase in visa appointment slots student visas will be processed at a faster pace. It is also important to note that the demand and number of students seeking visa appointments is much higher and there may be issues of clearing the backlog of visa applications.

Most students, agents and counsellors report that visa appointments are booked straight through November. Many of these students are required to join campuses in September or early October. There is serious concern that many students may not be able to join their campuses by the required date of joining. This becomes more critical for students enrolled in courses that require clinical or lab work. Counsellor, agents and students are contacting respective institutions to request flexibility for the date of arrival.  

At the moment the VFS team are sharing the following guidance for student applicants to UK to ease the process for students:

• Customers with scheduled appointments will be contacted for registration of their applications remotely by VFS.
• Applicants are encouraged to complete the self-uploading of their documents online to ensure a smoother application journey at the Visa Application Centre.
• Applicants are encouraged to regularly check the appointments page on VFS site to try to reschedule when new slots open (cancellations, additional capacity) and hopefully some applicants are able to rebook for an earlier date.  For updates, applicants can visit: http://vfsglobal.co.uk/my/en
• There is an option for applicants to consider the Priority Visa service - more information is available at https://www.gov.uk/student-visa/apply?step-by-step-nav=cafcc40a-c1ff-4997-adb4-2fef47af194d for those who may be interested. The Priority Visa service is at an additional cost for a 5 day visa processing. 

We request all UK institutions to extend maximum flexibility to students for the date of joining at this time. The current situation is causing high levels of stress and anxiety for students and parents. Many of them have made arrangements, paid for accommodation and related logistics for the students but are unsure of when they will be able to complete the visa process and travel.

We hope that the increased capacity and opening of additional VAC by VFS will accelerate the application processing time and provide increased appointment slots to students from Malaysia. All new updates will be shared immediately.