Troubled visa application site to stay closed

Visa details were viewable online before the site was shut down

An online visa application system that was closed in May as a result of security breaches will remain shut, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) has confirmed.

The web site, operated in India by outsourcing partner VFS, was ‘so poor it should be completely re-written’ according to an independent investigation ordered by the FCO. A security flaw meant that applicants' personal data was viewable by other internet users. FCO also closed down VFS-operated online application sites in Nigeria and Russia

The report, commissioned after media reports of security problems, criticised UKvisas and its outsourcing agreement with VFS for their handling of the original contract and failure to act adequately when warned of security breaches a year before the television news disclosure forced their hand.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband accepted all the report’s recommendations, including continued closure of the web sites, and said the report enabled UKvisas to learn important lessons. He also said there was no evidence data had actually been misused or visas wrongly issued.

'Since May 2007 VFS and UKvisas have taken the issue seriously and applied significant resources to identifying weaknesses and putting into place improved skills and oversight,' said Miliband.