Citizens of India applying for a German Schengen visa will now receive the document faster as the processing time has been reduced.
According to the Times of India, the deputy head of mission at the German Embassy in India, Georg Enzweiler, said that the processing time had been reduced to eight weeks.
“We have increased our staff substantially in Mumbai and I think the waiting time has substantially gone down. We are at roughly eight weeks now. We hope to get better with regard to that because of course it is what we want,” Enzweiler said at a press conference.
Enzweiler also said that the German Embassy will continue to make more efforts so the processing time gets further decreased.
At the same time, he said that one of the country’s goals is to attract more visitors from India, emphasising that improvements to the system are more than necessary.
“We are very happy to have increasing numbers of tourists from India to Germany. This is one of our goals to attract more people from India to visit Germany and we are doing our best to cope with the visa applications,” Enzweiler added.
In addition to the above-mentioned, the Times of India explains that Enzweiler also acknowledged the bureaucratic challenges and said that measures need to be taken to address the issue.
Moreover, he also stressed that they have already increased the number of staff in Mumbai, suggesting that applicants will no longer be subject to long waiting times as before.
Previously, SchengenVisaInfo.com reported that a total of 76,352 Indians applied for a German Schengen visa in 2022, spending more than €6.1 million in visa application fees.
As Schengen Visa Statistics data show, the highest amount was spent at the Mumbai consulate – a total of €4.4 million in visa fees. The New Delhi, as well as Bangalore consulates, followed with almost €1.1 million and €508,000 spent on German Schengen visa application fees, respectively.
Since India has not reached a visa-free travel agreement with the EU yet, all of its citizens are required to apply for a visa when planning to enter Germany or any other Schengen country.
When applying for Germany Schengen Visa, Indian applicants are required to submit several documents.
They need to submit the completed and signed visa application form, their passport, and two photographs.
Moreover, Indians also need to submit proof of having booked a place to stay, proof of financial means, proof of having purchased travel health insurance, and a roundtrip reservation, among others.
