Today, TLScontact has opened 21 new Australian Biometric Collection Centres (or ABCCs) across Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. This is the first wave of new centre openings for Australia following the signature of a five-year contract with the Australian Department of Home Affairs earlier this year. Further centres will open in additional locations in 2024, as TLScontact works with the Department to increase its geographic coverage and facilitate the Australian visa application process for customers across these two important regions.
TLScontact signed a contract with the Australian Department of Home Affairs during the summer of 2023. Under the terms of this contract, TLScontact will provide biometric collection facilities, digital assistance and online payment assistance, to support the Australian visa application process, for customers in Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Read our article TLScontact signs a new contract with Australia.
New centres across multiple locations in Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa
Over the past four months, TLScontact has been working hard with the Department to prepare for the launch of the new facilities, with key workstreams coordinated by a dedicated Transition team. The first centres opened today in the following locations:
Albania (Tirana), Bosnia-Herzegovina (Sarajevo), Ethiopia (Addis Ababa), France (Paris), Ghana (Accra), Greece (Athens), Kazakhstan (Almaty), Kenya (Nairobi), Nigeria (Abuja, Lagos), Russia (Moscow, Novosibirsk, Rostov-on-Don, St Petersburg), South Africa (Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, Pretoria) Uganda (Kampala) and Zimbabwe (Harare).
As part of the first wave of centre openings, an additional ABCC will open in Vladivostok, Russia, in January 2024.
A dedicated website has been developed, to support online appointment booking and provide customers with basic information about the process: https://visas-au.tlscontact.com/.
TLScontact has also deployed its in-house TLSbiometrics solution to allow secure enrolment of customers’ biometric data, during a dedicated appointment at one of our centres.
Digital services to support Australian visa applicants
In addition to providing biometric collection services, trained TLScontact staff will also offer digital assistance to Australian visa applicants. This will involve helping them to get onto and use an ImmiAccount to submit their visa application to the Department of Home Affairs. We will also offer assistance with making online fee payments.
Commenting on these centre openings, Anthony Phillips, Director of Offshore Service Delivery Partners at the Department of Home Affairs, said: “We are pleased to be launching these new biometric collection facilities, after four months of intense preparation work with TLScontact to get ready for delivery. In 2024, we will work with TLScontact to ensure secure and customer-friendly service delivery across Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa to support the Australian migration program.”