Re: Residence
 

Hiya Appman999.............as I understand it (and I am happy to proved incorrect btw) VFS look to me like a sort of a 'clearing house' for all consulates, outsourcing I think its called ! the one in Manchester was sorting applications for several different countries, india, pakistan, portugal, greece (I think) anyway my point is I think they are doing the generic mundane stuff that has to be completed by every applicant irrespective of the country, then it was off to the consulate with bank statements, DBS etc etc to apply for the actual visa...............VFS only wanted the passports, finger prints, photo's etc the biometric stuff..............oh and about £30 each :-)

Re: Residence
 

VFS certainly act on behalf of many countries (and in many countries) The checking requirements are different by country and by visa but I don't know if they are different between Manchester and London.