India, May 31 -- VFS Global has found itself to be the subject of unwelcome scrutiny after recent investigations raised questions about how the visa processing giant is handling applicant data while pushing customers towards expensive add-on services.

A year-long investigation by Lighthouse Reports found that many visa applicants were encouraged to purchase value-added services such as premium lounge access, courier delivery, and SMS notifications - not realising that these are optional add-ons. Some customers were reportedly left with the impression that these services could speed up visa processing or improve their chances of approval, despite no such guarantees.

In many cases, the additional charges significantly increased the overal...