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The Embassy of Switzerland in India has clarified that it has not suspended Schengen visa appointments for Indian tour groups. Instead, it said that they have almost “800 daily appointments” through the end of September 2023, which includes 22 groups.
Sharing the information through a social media post, the Swiss Embassy said, “People-to-people contact is at the core of Swiss-Indian relationship.”
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 communication read.
The Embassy further said that they implemented various measures since the start of the year to further ease the visa application process for Indian applicants. These include boosting the overall capacity in India.
With a new Visa Application Centre (VAC) in Lucknow, there are now 13 VACs all over India, where Swiss visa applications can be submitted.
Visa applicants in India planning a trip to Switzerland can apply for their visa six months ahead of their date of travel, as against one month in the past.
With slots opening up at various consulates across India, aspirants are rushing in to get their hands on them to be able to finally take off to the US for a master’s degree. Many of these are students have failed to get a valid visa three to four times. The F1 visa valid for a period of five years is given to students to pursue a masters degree from the US.
The Swiss Embassy further confirmed that it takes no more than 13 working days between the appointment secured at VFS Global and the Embassy’s decision on the application.Earlier today, several media reports had cited that the Switzerland Embassy in India has temporarily suspended group tour visas across the country till start of October citing backlog of exisiting visa applications. However, no official confirmation was given by the Embassy.
Members of the travel trade and a leading visa processing firm also denied receiving any communication on behalf of the Swiss Embassy on the decision.
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