‘SwitzerlandIndia’ In Bloom
Renowned Floral Artist Philipp von Arx will create flower installations at the Swiss Embassy’s Residence Garden and Atrium on October…
The Embassy of Switzerland in India on Thursday clarified that it has not suspended Schengen visa appointments for Indian tour groups.
“The Embassy of Switzerland in India has not suspended Schengen visa appointments for Indian tour groups. We have almost 800 daily appointments through the end of September 2023. These include 22 groups. People-to-people contact is at the core of Swiss-Indian relationship,” spokesperson, Embassy of Switzerland in India said in a statement.
The Embassy’s statement came in response to recent media reports about Schengen visa appointments.
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Earlier, there were media reports which said Switzerland has stopped accepting Schengen visa applications for Indian tour groups until October due to a high volume of pending applications.
The spokesperson said in 2023, the Embassy of Switzerland in India has processed more visa applications than it did in 2019.
“We have surpassed our pre-pandemic times processing level. From January until June, we handled 129,446 applications, as against 120,071 during the same period in 2019 – a 7.8 per cent increase,” the statement said.
The spokesperson said the measures have been implemented since the beginning of this year to further ease the visa application process for Indian applicants.
“First, it is possible for the applicants to apply for their visa six months before their date of travel, as against one month in the past. So, someone wishing to travel in June can already apply for a visa in January. Second, the Embassy has increased its overall capacity in India. With a new Visa Application Centre (VAC) in Lucknow, there are now 13 VACs all over India, where applications can be submitted.
Third, currently, it takes no more than 13 working days between the appointment by our partner VFS and the Embassy’s decision on the application,” the spokesperson added.
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