In a bid to tackle chronic appointment backlogs, the German Embassy in Yaoundé has outsourced part of its visa intake to outsourcing giant VFS Global. The new centre, which opened on 1 December and was publicised on 2 December, focuses on student, trainee and skilled-worker categories that normally do not require consular interviews. According to Ambassador Christian Sedat, the facility boosts monthly capacity by roughly 50 percent—from 1,000 to 1,500 files.
VFS staff will collect fingerprints, scan documents and return passports, while German consular officers retain the decision-making role. The model mirrors long-running outsourcing in India and China but is new to Central Africa, reflecting Berlin’s determination to hit ambitious skilled-immigration targets under the revised Skilled Immigration Act. Cameroon is Germany’s second-largest African source of international students and an emerging talent pool for nursing and engineering shortages.
![German Embassy Partners with VFS Global in Cameroon, Adding 500 Visa Slots Monthly]()
For universities and employers, the extra slots could shave weeks off recruitment timelines, although applicants must budget for the VFS service fee on top of visa charges. Mobility teams should also note that VFS cannot accept incomplete files—now a bigger risk given the abolition of informal remonstration appeals. The embassy says it will monitor service quality closely; if successful, similar public-private partnerships could follow in Accra, Nairobi and Lagos where queues routinely stretch past six months.
The move feeds into a wider German strategy of leveraging private infrastructure to modernise its global visa network, complementary to the Consular Services Portal launched worldwide in January 2025. Outsourcing, officials argue, frees scarce diplomatic staff for security vetting and complex cases while improving customer experience.
VFS staff will collect fingerprints, scan documents and return passports, while German consular officers retain the decision-making role. The model mirrors long-running outsourcing in India and China but is new to Central Africa, reflecting Berlin’s determination to hit ambitious skilled-immigration targets under the revised Skilled Immigration Act. Cameroon is Germany’s second-largest African source of international students and an emerging talent pool for nursing and engineering shortages.
For universities and employers, the extra slots could shave weeks off recruitment timelines, although applicants must budget for the VFS service fee on top of visa charges. Mobility teams should also note that VFS cannot accept incomplete files—now a bigger risk given the abolition of informal remonstration appeals. The embassy says it will monitor service quality closely; if successful, similar public-private partnerships could follow in Accra, Nairobi and Lagos where queues routinely stretch past six months.
The move feeds into a wider German strategy of leveraging private infrastructure to modernise its global visa network, complementary to the Consular Services Portal launched worldwide in January 2025. Outsourcing, officials argue, frees scarce diplomatic staff for security vetting and complex cases while improving customer experience.
