Refund process is unacceptable and effectively impossible to follow up

I submitted two DHA refund requests through the VFS Global online portal on 25 and 26 August 2026.

The portal allows you to complete the refund request and upload documents online, giving every impression that the process has been completed. I later discovered that VFS also expects applicants to email supporting documents separately to their refund department, which is unnecessarily confusing and poorly designed. I emailed the refund department on 26 September and received only an automated acknowledgement stating that they were experiencing high volumes.

I followed up again on 5 October. No substantive response. I then lodged a formal complaint with VFS. The response simply redirected me back to the same refund email address that was already not responding. I also tried calling the number provided by VFS, only for the automated telephone system to direct me back to email.

So the process becomes completely circular:

Email refund department - no response , complain to VFS - told to email refund department , call VFS - automated system tells you to email.

It has now been more than two months since the original refund requests were submitted.

To make matters worse, one of the applications now shows "Refund Completed" on the VFS portal, yet I have received no refund on the credit card used for payment and no communication explaining when, where or how the supposed refund was processed.

Provide an actual human channel for customers to resolve refund problems instead of repeatedly redirecting them to an unanswered mailbox.

For an organisation handling immigration applications and substantial amounts of customers' money, this level of communication and accountability is unacceptable.