The customer experience of visa applications

Travelling to various corners of the globe on business results in some additional steps over and above packing your passport and sun cream with many countries taking a deeper look at who they let in the country. Around the EU these limitations seem foreign to us but step outside this "circle of trust" and you enter a world of questions and forms. The process itself can be daunting with various online steps to follow with letters and photographs required that has generated an industry in its own right as companies have sprung up to help you navigate your way through this unscathed. The websites often feel misaligned with the companies ambitions being very dated and hark back to the dawn of the interweb with crude navigation and customer journeys. The steps often require back to basics printouts with mountains of paperwork compiled to be packaged off to some dark secret office. The questions asked probe deep into your background exploring the lives of you and you family. In a relatively settled period in world affairs it strikes you as somewhat excessive when the purpose of your trip is likely to benefit the local economy. Visa applications. Not an epic experience.