The duration of Schengen visa approval can now take up to a month as there is a high demand for people travelling to Schengen countries.
As many people are applying for the visa, the visa processing time has increased like never before and as per the reports, there are no appointments available for European nations till June end.
Travel Agents Federation of India joint secretary Anil Kalsi said that normally visa processing time is around 15 working days, however, many people are yet to receive their visas where people have waited over a month.
He further stated that people are losing a lot of money due to this case as to get the visa approved, details of stay and flight tickets are required and because the process is taking too long people end up paying huge amounts In cancellation charges.
“With immediate effect and due to the high volume of the visa applications, the Swiss Visa VFS Centre and the Embassy of Switzerland in New Delhi will only accept the visa applications, with travel dates, which are not falling in next 15 days from the date of application submission at the VFS Centres across India. This is valid for all the short-term tourist visa applications.” Said the Swiss Embassy in India.
“We are experiencing high volumes of visa applications coupled with limited appointment availability and stretched visa processing timelines from India. On 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.” Said VFS Spokesperson to a leading news outlet.
The situation is expected to get worse as the embassy of Denmark in New Delhi has also temporarily stopped expecting new visa appointments at VFS because of a “shortage of staff, absence and an unforeseen increase” in the number of applications.
Source: macrotraveller blog
