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The Schengen area refers to a group of European countries that have abolished passport and other types of border controls at their mutual borders to allow free movement of people.

The area currently comprises 26 European countries, including

Austria,

Belgium,

Czech

Republic,

Denmark,

Estonia,

Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Spain, Sweden, Scandinavia, and Switzerland.

The change in the visa regime for Schengen was earlier termed a game changer for frequent travellers. The

THE change in visa regime for Schengen was earlier termed a game changer for frequent travellers criterion is that if you had two Schengen visas issued to you in the last three years, you could be eligible to apply for a multiple-entry visa. But how many really qualify? A good part of the last three years had seen two waves of the

IT means if you had two Schengen visas issued in three years, you can apply for a multiple-entry visa

BUT much of the last three years had seen two waves of the pandemic and throttling of flights

pandemic and throttling of flights.

Germany’s envoy Georg Enzweiler, who is the deputy head of mission here, told Mint last week that the country is doing its best to make travel to their country as easy as possible.

“Yes, there is the Schengen visa regime and we have to handle it but the number of issued visas have gone up and visa wait times have gone down to just a few days in the last one year,” Enzweiler had said on the sidelines of a tourism event held by the German National Tourist Organization last week. Enzweiler said visa numbers from India to Germany had increased for both Schengen and the ‘National Visa’ it issued, going up to about 170,000 in 2023-24, with a 41% increase compared with the previous year.

WAIT times, including processing the visa, now range anywhere between 15 and 75 days

But that may be very far from reality. A visa wait time document accessed by Mint from a travel operator paints a completely different picture. Italy has almost completely stopped offering any slots on the VFS platform for its short-term tourist visa category from cities such as Delhi.

For Mumbai, Kolkata, and Bengaluru, the wait to get an appointment is very long, anywhere between one and three months.

Iceland, Portugal, Spain, and Hungary practically have no slots available in most places either. Wait times, including processing the visa, can range anywhere between 15 and 75 days, as was the case with Mishra.

However, there are some notable exceptions like Scandinavia and the Czech Republic. For these countries, there are appointments available within the next few weeks. Countries such as Spain and Hungary only release appointments once a month, said the OTA player earlier cited.

If you’re lucky enough to get a slot, then there is the next hurdle: processing time, which can go as high as 7-20 working days. As an alternative, many travel companies are promoting other unconventional destinations, including South Korea, South Africa, Japan, Brazil, Egypt, and Turkey. In most cases, their wait time is as low as zero to three days. Unexpected gainers are also countries such as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Georgia which have easy visas.

Enzweiler, on the other hand, said he is on a mission to reduce wait times, with more staff being hired by his embassy to deal with the added volumes. “I am not going to blame people for choosing alternative locations when there are countries with visa delays. But there has been a change in recent regulations, which means Indians qualify more quickly for long term visas,” Enzweiler said.