Acc. to Alexa, Global Visas has the most traffic, & it is supposedly one of the largest, if not THE largest visa immigration services in the world. I researched reviews online, & only found a few negative comments--all from India--& 1 or 2 positive comments. The Global Visas account manager was friendly & knowledgeable when I called their London office. So I hired them to help me sort out getting a Highly Skilled Worker (HSMP) visa to the UK.

UNFORTUNATELY, Global Visas sr. case manager, Katarzyna Pasternyk, is disorganized, slow, & lacks any sort of empathy. She is unable to provide a roadmap of the application process, & two weeks after working with her, she has yet to tell me about the actual interview.

She asks for letters from banks, employers & my landlord, but she does not give any letter samples or explain--what information they should contain, who needs to sign it, etc. The client must figure that out all on their own. I believe she tries hard, but her advice is confusing. In the last 2 weeks, I have spent about 50 hours on trying to contact Global Visas, trying to speak with Global Visas case manager Katarzyna, trying to understand what she is saying, trying to understand what I need & what the next steps are.

I receive is a smattering of unintelligible comments written among my original questions (often without formatting that distinguishes where my email ends & Global Visas' comments begin).

It's a simple question of knowing how to manage a project. Any event that requires a longer time to complete should be given adequate lead time so that all elements come together at the same completion date. Unfortunately, Global Visas sr. case manager Katarzyna Pasternak does not know how to do this. Example: I have bank accounts in the US, but I do not live in the US. After 1 1/2 weeks of consultation (I gave all my information on the first day), I was finally told that online bank statements were not acceptable, & that the bank statements needed to be original paper bank statements.

My bank in the US is Citibank. To request a paper bank statement requires 2-3 weeks. They will mail it to your US address, but not your international one. You need to have someone receive it & re-send it to you. If I had known that from the beginning, I could have started right away on getting it. Better yet, Global Visas senior case manager Katarzyna Pasternyk should have been the one to advise me to do that. I am the client. Katarzyna’s response? Oh, just get the local branch to give it to you. They can’t? Oh, then ask them to stamp your printout of your online bank statement. She obviously doesn’t know that banks run independently of each other, country to country.

I decided to email a formal complaint & requested a new case manager. I was told by Katarzyna Pasternyk's supervisor, Adrian Baxter, that he would only review my issue after I had filed a formal written complaint. I sent him a longer, more detailed complaint in a Word doc.

Response from Adrian Baxter of Global Visas:
"You hired Global Visas to assist you with your Tier 1 General application. We have provided you with advice & assistance in line with Home Office guidelines. ...I will not be able to reassign your case to a new Case Manager. I look forward to your response advising of how you wish to proceed." He did not offer any options.

I replied to his email & requested to speak by phone. I WOULD go to his office, but I am not in London. He did not answer his phone any of the times I have called him, nor has he ever returned my voice mail. I have been waiting nearly a week for some response.

It is possible that there are some really great people who work there. In fact, I'm sure of it, as I have never seen a company where there employees were all disagreeable. However, if you have the misfortune of getting an inexpert, disorganized, slow case manager at Global Visas, you will not have a proper channel to resolve your complaint.