Spanish visa appointment mafia exposed as citizens forced to pay millions for early slots

ISLAMABAD: Serious allegations of irregularities and an organized appointment mafia at the Spanish visa center in Islamabad have raised new concerns among applicants.

According to reports, obtaining a Spanish visa has become less of an administrative procedure and more of a bidding game worth millions of rupees.

Citizens claim that the visa appointment system is marred by corruption and favoritism.

Applicants say that ordinary citizens wait for months to secure an appointment, while agents are charging millions of rupees to provide a slot within just a few hours.

The situation has fueled frustration and raised questions about transparency in the operations of the visa center.

Applicants say that due to unusual delays and unavailability of appointments at the Spanish visa center, they are forced to contact agents.

Citizens claim that the fees for family visas are two to three lakh rupees, for student visas five lakh rupees, while for work visas it is twelve to twelve lakh rupees. Up to 1.4 million rupees are being charged.

Agent Mafia

“I submitted all the documents, but the appointment was canceled three times. Later, an agent said, ‘Give me the money and I will get an appointment in a day!’”

Some applications are deliberately rejected, and these cancelled appointments are later sold by agents. Dozens of consultancy offices are active around the visa centre, charging huge fees in the name of getting appointments.

According to informed sources, some agents claim to provide “special facilities” to submit cases without an appointment. Some officials are accused of using the lists of preferred applicants for their own benefit.

FIA initiated an Investigation

According to sources, the FIA ​​has started a preliminary investigation into these complaints, and some officers of the Spain Visa Centre are also being questioned.

Interestingly, this visa centre is managed by an Indian company, which changed its name after the Indo-Pak tensions, but retained the same system, website, and staff.

Lack of transparency, lack of oversight, and growing concerns of corruption have badly affected the trust of ordinary citizens.

If the FIA ​​investigation reaches its logical conclusion, this will not only expose an organized corruption network but could also be a ray of hope for thousands of Pakistanis wishing to go abroad.

Now it remains to be seen whether this FIA inquiry remains limited to papers or actually reaches those responsible.