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Visa Procedure For Indians In The EU & US Is Slow

According to travelers and tour companies who are aware with the situation, several embassies do not have any appointment dates available for either this month or the next one. According to them, obtaining visas for the United States and Canada also takes a lot of time.

A retired private sector executive who lives in Gurgaon and goes under the name Rajesh Sharma (name altered per customer request), Rajesh Sharma is a troubled guy. Since he submitted his application for a Schengen visa to visit Greece about a month ago, he still has not been granted one. He is hoping to go there soon. On May 29, Sharma was supposed to start leading a group trip around Europe.

I have already paid close to USD 16,000, which cannot be refunded (this amount does not include the cost of an aircraft ticket). Because my passport is now being held at the Greek consulate, I am unable to go to any other location, even if it is necessary for me to cancel my trip and suffer a complete loss of the funds that I have already paid “explained Sharma.

“My passport has 10-year valid multiple entry visas to the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, and I am someone who traveled to Europe every year until I couldn’t because of COVID-19 induced restrictions on international travel.” “I am someone who traveled to Europe every year until I couldn’t because of COVID-induced restrictions on international travel.”

A large number of Indian travelers are finding themselves in a similar situation as Sharma as a result of delays in appointment dates and lengthy processing durations for visas at the embassies of several countries that are part of the Schengen area.

According to travelers and tour companies who are aware with the situation, several embassies do not have any appointment dates available for either this month or the next one. According to them, obtaining visas for the United States and Canada also takes a lot of time.

On Wednesday, Satbir Singh, the founder and CEO of Thinkstr as well as the writer of campaigns such as “Incredible India” and “Bajaate Raho,” tweeted to @FranceinIndia, the official Twitter account of the ambassador of France in India, saying that he was likely going to miss Cannes Lions because the earliest visa appointment date that seemed to be available seemed to be after the festival.

Visas for Europe are being prolonged by up to one month, according to Jay Bhatia, vice president of the Travel Agents Association of India. This is due to the fact that certain Schengen embassies are not running at full capacity.

“Obtaining visas for the United States, Europe, and Canada also takes time. There is a huge demand, yet there is no supply of visas, and the consulates are not providing any relief. It has been brought to our attention that some of these consulates do not have fully operational teams in place as a result of the epidemic, and it is possible that they have been instructed to only issue a certain amount of visas.

People who are interested in traveling the next month are being sent to alternative places such as Singapore, Mauritius, or the Seychelles. The growing cost of gasoline is also contributing to the rising cost of airline tickets “he stated.

In response to a question on the topic that was posed by ET, a spokesman for the Swiss Embassy in India said that although there has been an increase in the number of visa applications, the Swiss Embassy in India has not experienced any delays. According to the Schengen Codex, the applicants have a turnaround period of 15 working days to complete their applications.

The Swiss Embassy in New Delhi is still quite responsive in terms of the issuing of visas, despite the fact that the number of people applying has grown. According to the spokeswoman, as of this morning, candidates were able to arrange times between May 31 and June 27 for their interviews, depending on the location in which they applied.

However, travelers who had booked several packages to Switzerland with tour operators this week in Delhi NCR for the second half of June reported that they were ordered to change the dates of their trip to July. These travelers’ original bookings were for the second half of June. An official working for an online travel site said that as a result of the delays, European group trips were being rescheduled for the months of August and September.

As of the time this article was published, email inquiries submitted to the embassies of France, Italy, Greece, and the United States had not been responded to.

While the company is seeing strong demand for Europe, led by Switzerland, France, Italy, and Austria, Rajeev Kale, president and country head for holidays, MICE and visas at Thomas Cook (India), stated that visa challenges are resulting in a pushback on departure dates for India’s peak summer season.

“For customers who are unable to change their holiday schedules due to the reopening of schools and work commitments, we are seeing an increased shift to destinations such as Turkey, Egypt, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Maldives,” he said. “We are also seeing an increase in the number of customers going to Mauritius and Maldives.” When seen over the course of several years, Australia is doing rather well. We anticipate that travel visa appointment scheduling will become available for the United States later on in this year.”

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