The governments of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and United States of America have formed a Five Country Conference (5CC) collaborative effort to address immigration and border security. 5CC addresses ongoing efforts to improve processes, rationalise resources and achieve better value for money.
The 5CC are sharing visa support services including enrollment of biometrics. The first initiative launched by 5CC is the commencement of operations for Australia, New Zealand and UK visas in Singapore. This initiative allows for a convenient and seamless visa application process for these countries as well as jointly tackling visa and identity fraud.
The five countries’ border control agencies – Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) – Australia, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), Immigration New Zealand (INZ), UK Border Agency (UKBA) and US Department of State have conjointly worked on areas of co-operation in the past decade.
Travellers aspiring for visas to Australia, New Zealand and UK can now visit the common facility of VFS Global operated 5CC Visa Application Centre (VAC) at 20 Cecil Street, #11-02 to 05 Equity Plaza, Singapore 049705.
VFS Global is an outsourcing and technology services specialist for diplomatic missions and governments around the world. It has 820 Visa Application Centres located in 87 countries across five continents. As of last month, VFS Global serves the interests of diplomatic missions of 43 sovereign governments and has processed 57.85 million applications since 2001.
Other features of the 5CC VAC include longer operating hours, dedicated counters for applicants and travel agents, easy and standard documentation, sms alert for visa status update on mobile phones as well as door step delivery of passports amongst other services.
The VAC operates from Monday to Friday from 8am to 4pm. There is a nominal service fee, payable at the time of application. More information at www.vfsglobal.com.
