Greece clearing Schengen visa backlog on fast track

There is good news for some Indian families whose summer vacation plans are on hold because of long delays in getting visitor visas for European Union countries. Greece, a country which is a popular tourist destination for Indians, is clearing its backlog of Schengen visas, which are required by visitors travelling to the EU countries, on a fast track.

“Over the last couple of weeks, Greece has put in place an initiative to clear the backlog with embassy officials working on weekends and after office hours. Earlier, it was taking over 45 days to get the passports back with the visa stamped after the biometric data had been collected. Over the last few days, this has come down to 20 working days,” a spokesperson for the visa application centre of Greece said.

Since this plan has been implemented, over 4000 passports have been cleared. Further, those who had missed flights and had to cancel vacation plans because of delays in getting their visas for Greece are being offered a visa fee waiver scheme till September to reapply, the spokesperson added.

Besides tourists, others planning visits to certain EU countries such as Germany, Italy and Denmark including parents of students studying in those countries and families planning to attend weddings too had been hit by delays in getting Schengen visas.

A spokesperson for the German Embassy in Delhi had confirmed to Times of India recently that all appointments for Schengen visas (business, tourist and visitor visas, trade fair visitors and exhibitors) were fully booked till the end of August 2022.

The dates for September will be released by visa outsourcing and technology services company VFS Global, the outsourcing agency partner, at the beginning of July and can then be booked accordingly, the spokesperson said. The German Embassy and consulates in India recommend that visa applicants should use the facility of appointment dates being released at least two months in advance and book early.

“Short term planning of trips to Germany is currently not recommended. Over the past few months, the German Embassy and consulates have processed several thousand Schengen visas. Extra shifts to process more visas have been introduced. But due to very high demand, the waiting time is longer than usual. Whenever possible, we give visas valid for several years to bona fide applicants according to Schengen rules,” the German embassy spokesperson added.

While it is expected that the Schengen visa delays will ease from August with the end of vacation season; some EU countries including Switzerland and France are issuing visas on a faster track than others.

“We are seeing a lot of demand for Switzerland especially since there are no entry restrictions at all since May 2. The big change that we notice is that people are travelling not just in the typical summer months of May and June but are planning visits all the way until December,” said Ritu Sharma, deputy director and marketing head, India, Switzerland Tourism.

Outsourcing agency VFS Global, which is a partner of several European countries, has been seeing an unprecedented demand for visas this summer.

“There has been huge uptick in outbound travel demand from India to many parts of the world. Given the extremely high pent-up demand, this was expected with the opening of international borders, easing of travel restrictions and resumption of regular international flights from India,” a spokesperson of VFS Global said.

As a result, the agency is experiencing high volumes of visa applications coupled with limited appointment availability and stretched visa processing timelines.

“On an average, VFS Global is receiving approximately 20,000 applications from India in a day which is close to the volumes recorded during pre-pandemic peak season. We have been urging visa customers to apply early to avoid last minute rush,” the spokesperson said.