Ahmedabad: Intend to travel to Europe for a holiday or a business trip or to meet friends and family? Make sure you have at least four months in hand because Schengen visa woes could impact your plans. Even after the European Union offering multi-year visas to Indian nationals, the delay in getting appointments, costlier processing fees, coupled with a higher rate of rejections is becoming a killjoy for travellers. Estimates by travel operators indicate a waiting period of at least 60-90 days for Schengen visas.With conferences, exhibitions and symposiums scheduled in Europe from Aug, students, professionals, researchers and businesspersons have begun planning their Europe travel. Those preferring to travel during the off season too have begun making plans. Ankit Bajaj, owner of an Ahmedabad-based travel company, said, “We advise clients to strictly plan their Europe travel at least four to five months in advance to ensure that the trip goes ahead as planned. Even those with specific reasons like emergency visits have not been able to get appointments easily. Moreover, visa processing fees have increased, and the rate of rejection is also high, leaving travellers in the lurch.” “Those who face rejections don’t get clarity on what grounds their visa applications were rejected, making matters worse,” said Bajaj. A Schengen visa allows visitors to travel within the Schengen area, i.e. about 27 countries, eliminating border checks for the visa holders. “Upon applying for a tourist visa, one needs to submit pre-booked flight tickets, which means customers having to spend lakhs without the guarantee of a visa. People plan years in advance and save up to take Europe trips, but such procedural delays are deterrents,” said Virendra Shah, chairman, Travel Agents’ Association of India (TAAI) – Gujarat. Making matters worse, the European Union has hiked the visa processing fees by 12% for children as well as adults. Effective June 12, the increased fees for Schengen visas (type C) came into effect. A visa application will cost 90 euros (approximately Rs 8,200) for an adult and 45 uros (approximately Rs 4,100) for children aged six to 12.
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