TLScontact has just inaugurated its new visa application centre in Cairo, in the presence of the French Ambassador to Egypt, Eric Chevalier. This new centre was opened as part of a new visa outsourcing contract for France in the Middle East and is one of two new centres to open for France in Cairo this month, with the aim of ensuring stronger proximity and improved customer experience for French visa applicants in the Egyptian capital. These are the latest in a series of new centre openings for TLScontact across the Middle East region.
This week, TLScontact organised an inauguration ceremony to mark the opening of its brand new visa application centre in El-Sheikh Zayed City, Cairo. This 2,000m2 facility will collect visa applications on behalf of France, but also Belgium, Germany and the UK. Considerably larger than our previous centre in Giza, it has been designed to meet the latest TLScontact group standards and demonstrates our commitment to improving customer experience for visa applicants in Cairo.
A smaller centre has also been opened in New Cairo, the future administrative district of Cairo, still under construction, situated to the east of the capital. Both centres are open five days a week, from Sunday to Thursday. TLScontact has also launched new operations for France in Hurghada, and continues to operate in Alexandria.
Our visa application centres will be complemented by the rollout of our Apply Anywhere service, which allows customers to submit their application at a location of their choice, for an additional charge. The service is now available across Cairo and will be extended to other regions of Egypt in the coming months.
Stronger customer proximity
The location of the new Cairo centres was carefully selected to maximise customer convenience. A survey carried out among visa applicants in Cairo in 2023 allowed us to start assessing customer preferences for potential new locations. When selecting the new premises, we then prioritised accessibility: the two new centres both benefit from widely available parking and close proximity to the new Cairo tramway.
Both new centres incorporate the ‘your visa centre’ brand concept developed last year, to create a more modern, more welcoming and more personalised experience for visa customers.
The inauguration of our new El-Sheikh Zayed centre took place in the presence of Eric Chevalier, the French Ambassador to Egypt, who said:
“I would like to congratulate TLScontact on the quality of the new centres that they have recently opened for France in Egypt, and for the work they have done to improve customer experience for Egyptian visa applicants. These new centres mark the opening of a new chapter in Franco-Egyptian relations, facilitating exchanges between our two countries.”
Gabriele Piva, Chief Operating Officer of TLScontact, who also participated in the inauguration ceremony, said:
“I would like to thank the French authorities for their renewed confidence in TLScontact in Egypt and across the Middle East. I would also like to congratulate our teams on their hard work preparing for the opening of this new centre, which is a flagship location for our company in this important region.”
Growing presence in Egypt and Middle East
Following these openings, TLScontact now operates four visa application centres in Egypt, representing France, but also Belgium, Germany and the UK. We have considerably strengthened our presence for France across the wider Middle East region in recent months, opening a new centre in Amman, Jordan, where we also represent Belgium, and in Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, where we also collect visa applications on behalf of Belgium, Hungary and the UK. These centres add to existing locations in Iraq, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.