New Delhi: A Delhi-based doctor who had to fly to Paris to attend a medical conference along with his team has lost lakhs of rupees in cancellation charges for airline tickets and hotel bookings. The reason – he and his team did not receive their Schengen visa on time, which requires a confirmation booking to be attached when filing the application.
The path to Schengen visa can take about a month.
“This is not an isolated case. Hundreds of people are waiting Schengen is displayed Facing a similar situation as the processing time has increased as before. Appointments for submission of visas (applications) for European countries are practically not available until the end of June. The minimum processing time is 15 working days, but in many cases passports are not being returned even after four weeks,” said Anil Kalsi, joint secretary of the Travel Agents Federation of India, a leading travel agent in Delhi, who handled the booking of the doctor.
“Travellers have lost a lot of money as tickets and hotel confirmations have to be submitted along with the application. And when passports with visas are not received on time, people are paying huge cancellation charges,” Kalsi said.
The Swiss Embassy in India told travel agents in a release on 19 May: “With immediate effect and due to the high volume of visa applications, the Swiss Visa VFS Center and the Embassy of Switzerland in New Delhi will only accept visa applications, on dates of travel. with VFS centers across India, which are not coming within the next 15 days from the date of submission of application. This is valid for all short term tourist visa applications.”
The Schengen visa situation could actually get worse now. The Danish Embassy in New Delhi has temporarily suspended all new visa appointments at VFS due to “staff, absenteeism and unexpected growth” in the number of applications.
“With effect from 1st July and till further notice, no appointment slot will be available in VFS…. This declaration applies only to short-term visa applications. This does not apply to long-term permit applications. The embassy can only be contacted in case of a life-threatening situation for a host in Denmark,” VFS Global said on its website, “for any inconvenience caused to the Danish Embassy in New Delhi due to this unprecedented situation.” have regret.”
A VFS Global spokesperson told TOI: “We are experiencing a high volume of visa applications from India coupled with limited appointment availability and extended visa processing timelines. On an average, VFS Global is receiving around 20,000 applications a day from India, which is close to the volume recorded during the pre-pandemic peak season.”
“VFS Global manages only the administrative and non-judgmental aspects of the visa application process and follows a standard operating procedure of processing applications within one business day. Visa decision timelines are informed by the respective client governments on their websites. VFS Global is committed to working with customer governments to enhance capacity and meet the ever-increasing demand for outbound travel from India,” the spokesperson said.
Travel agents say the problem is mainly for the Schengen states. “There is a two-month waiting period for visa processing in the UK, but if you pay around Rs 25,000 extra for a priority visa, your application will be processed within a week,” a travel agent said on condition of anonymity. Will go.”
EU nations keep warning about long waiting periods. For example, while announcing that Germany would recognize Covaxin for travel purposes, the country’s outgoing ambassador to India, Walter J Lindner, tweeted last Thursday that “extra-than-usual waits in visa classes due to Covid-backlogs”. There is a period, please be patient.”
The path to Schengen visa can take about a month.
“This is not an isolated case. Hundreds of people are waiting Schengen is displayed Facing a similar situation as the processing time has increased as before. Appointments for submission of visas (applications) for European countries are practically not available until the end of June. The minimum processing time is 15 working days, but in many cases passports are not being returned even after four weeks,” said Anil Kalsi, joint secretary of the Travel Agents Federation of India, a leading travel agent in Delhi, who handled the booking of the doctor.
“Travellers have lost a lot of money as tickets and hotel confirmations have to be submitted along with the application. And when passports with visas are not received on time, people are paying huge cancellation charges,” Kalsi said.
The Swiss Embassy in India told travel agents in a release on 19 May: “With immediate effect and due to the high volume of visa applications, the Swiss Visa VFS Center and the Embassy of Switzerland in New Delhi will only accept visa applications, on dates of travel. with VFS centers across India, which are not coming within the next 15 days from the date of submission of application. This is valid for all short term tourist visa applications.”
The Schengen visa situation could actually get worse now. The Danish Embassy in New Delhi has temporarily suspended all new visa appointments at VFS due to “staff, absenteeism and unexpected growth” in the number of applications.
“With effect from 1st July and till further notice, no appointment slot will be available in VFS…. This declaration applies only to short-term visa applications. This does not apply to long-term permit applications. The embassy can only be contacted in case of a life-threatening situation for a host in Denmark,” VFS Global said on its website, “for any inconvenience caused to the Danish Embassy in New Delhi due to this unprecedented situation.” have regret.”
A VFS Global spokesperson told TOI: “We are experiencing a high volume of visa applications from India coupled with limited appointment availability and extended visa processing timelines. On an average, VFS Global is receiving around 20,000 applications a day from India, which is close to the volume recorded during the pre-pandemic peak season.”
“VFS Global manages only the administrative and non-judgmental aspects of the visa application process and follows a standard operating procedure of processing applications within one business day. Visa decision timelines are informed by the respective client governments on their websites. VFS Global is committed to working with customer governments to enhance capacity and meet the ever-increasing demand for outbound travel from India,” the spokesperson said.
Travel agents say the problem is mainly for the Schengen states. “There is a two-month waiting period for visa processing in the UK, but if you pay around Rs 25,000 extra for a priority visa, your application will be processed within a week,” a travel agent said on condition of anonymity. Will go.”
EU nations keep warning about long waiting periods. For example, while announcing that Germany would recognize Covaxin for travel purposes, the country’s outgoing ambassador to India, Walter J Lindner, tweeted last Thursday that “extra-than-usual waits in visa classes due to Covid-backlogs”. There is a period, please be patient.”