Plenty of Indian travelers plan to visit the Schengen Area in this summer season. However, they are unable to find any available visa appointment slots.
This has prompted them to call on the authorities to take measures. They expressed their frustration with the low number of appointment slots available for Schengen visa.
The dissatisfaction
Some Indians also asserted that they would have to postpone, or cancel their travel plans to the bloc due to this issue.
Along with applications, Indian travel agents were also dissatisfied with the current situation. Anil Kalsi, the Vice-President of Travel Agents Federation of India, talked about the problem.
He revealed that where majority of the Schengen member states are concerned, there are no visa appointments currently available.
He further added that the earliest appointment date for Italy and Germany is in July. Anil said that majority of Schengen countries do not have any appointments available.
This means that Indians planning on obtaining an Italian, or German Schengen visa in June and July for traveling purposes would not be able to secure it.
A VFS Global spokesperson commented on the matter after complaint from Indian travel agents and Schengen visa applicants.
The response
The spokesperson said that the number of appointments is set by the Schengen member states. The same said that visa applications should not be left until the last minute.
The EU Commission has made changes recently under which it is possible for travelers to file a Schengen visa application six months before their travel date.
The latest appointment they can make is two weeks before their travel date, as long as slots are available.
This year in April, the EU Commission had also adopted favorable rules for Indians when it comes to issuing Schengen visas.
The EU wants to make it easier for people to travel to the bloc. Therefore, Schengen member states will now issue multiple-entry visas to Indians.
But, it should be noted that not all Indians will be eligible. Indians with a travel history to the bloc and those who have gotten two Schengen visas in the last three years would be eligible.
They will be granted a two-year visa that will be followed by a five-year visa, as long as their passport is valid.
Visa applicants
In 2023, India was the third-largest source of applicants for Schengen visa. The total number of Indians who submitted Schengen visa applications were 966,687.
As compared to Indians, only Chinese and Turkish citizens submitted more applications. Chinese nationals submitted 1,117,365 applications, while Turkish nationals submitted 1,055,885 applications.
While the number of Schengen visa applications from India were high, not all the applicants managed to obtain the visa.
811,290 people were granted visa, while the rejected applications stood at 151,752. The highest number of visas issued to Indians were from Germany, France and Switzerland.
Germany issued 118,919 visas, France issued 146,938 visas and Switzerland issued a total of 166,919 visas to Indian passport holders.
