Despite the growing trend of accessibility in travel, professional athletes still face a multitude of challenges when traveling abroad on short notice. At some point, the question of a visa for athletes may come up. Omar Al Souma, Saudi-based Al Ahli football player, who has been playing football for almost two decades, said it requires a visa for most countries he visits. Earlier, he had to visit the visa application centre to submit his application and biometric information but that has changed since he started using VFS Global's new Visa At Your Doorstep service. The technology-enabled service brings the visa application process directly to the applicant, and that too at their preferred time and location. This means aspiring travellers have the luxury of an easy and convenient visa application submission – a team of trained staff visits the individual or group of applicants to enroll their biometric data and collect their visa application documents. Recounting his experience, Al Souma said: "I have been playing matches all over and the visa process can be time consuming. Visa At Your Doorstep proved to be the best decision I could have taken for this process as I travel regularly – it not only enabled me to apply for my Schengen visa to France in comfort, but the team was professional, competent and consistently responsive to any questions I had." "Throughout my Schengen visa application, VFS Global provided a personalized approach which suited my needs perfectly. The application that the French consulate received was very detailed and complete, which I feel was the reason why the whole experience was smooth and most importantly, brief," he added. — SG
