For a regular person dreaming of travelling abroad, getting an American visa may seem like the holy grail. But for those in the travel business, as well as regular foreign visitors, there is another, tougher visa to crack that opens the gateway to perhaps the most sought-after destination for those in the know — the Schengen visa, which allows entry and seamless travel across 26 countries in the European Union.
And it’s never been as difficult to get one as it has been this summer for Indians. “It is getting tougher…there is a lot of harassment,” said Pawan Gupta, managing director of Chennai-based Peekay Holidays, one of the leading tour operators in the country. “Appointments are getting to be a big issue (and) documentation is getting tougher.”
It is ironic that this market scenario is happening even as the European Commission, in a grandiose manner recently, announced relaxing of Schengen visa rules for Indians, with those who have travelled twice to Europe earlier in the existing valid passport, they will become eligible for longer multiple-entry visas, starting first with two years, to be followed by a five-year visa.
“Travel to Europe made easy…another step towards enhancing people-to-people contact!”, European Union’s ambassador in India Herve Delphin had exulted announcing the new rules just last month. The move comes as part of an EU-India Common Agenda on Migration and Mobility (both nations are back at chafing out their long-pending free trade agreement, too).
However, in many cases, ‘the people-to-people contact’ is not even reaching the visa office, or, it is ending abruptly there. Across the board, aspiring Indian tourists this summer have found that appointments to the most in-demand European tourist destinations are not available, in some cases, for months altogether. With travel on an upswing after Covid since last year, many affluent Indians had hoped to return to the Blue Banana for a spot of the famed European vibe — al fresco dining in Amsterdam, wine-soaked Paris nights, overdose of history and culture in Tuscany, the joie de vivre of Spain, beer tasting in Bavaria and the likes.
And, while heavy documentation has always been a bane, with bank statements, IT returns and guarantees being asked (one first-time traveller reminisces how he was asked to present himself physically at a Scandinavian country’s embassy in Delhi after return as proof!), this time, the process itself is becoming a punishment. Post-Covid, many European countries had cut down on staff leading to inordinate delays, and worse, illogical rejections through the post-lockdown period, but, there was hope that matters would stabilise once normalcy returned.
Georg Enzweiler, deputy head of mission at the German embassy in Delhi argues that visa issue time had come down to “2-3 days” and that the present delay of a “few days more” is probably because of the summer rush. “Our visa numbers have increased (and) rejection rates are just 10 per cent. Of course, the rates vary from country to country.”
What the diplomats say does not reflect the reality on the ground. Media has been abuzz about couples applying ending up with one of them getting a visa and the other’s being rejected. Mayank Sharma, a sales head at Unity Small Finance Bank took to X after he lost Rs 3.5 lakh spent on tickets and reservations after his Schengen application to Greece was rejected. “Letter was in standard format which said that they’re not sure if I’ll come back…whereas I have a savings bank balance of seven figures. Honestly, I am shocked,” he wrote.
While waiting period runs into weeks, agencies like VFS and BLS, who between them do almost all the European visa verification work, have been raking in the moolah, charging a premium for services like ‘visa at the doorstep’, updates on messages etc., with more and more frustrated travellers opting for it in the hope of a speedy redressal. Germany’s Enzweiler himself said he was “shocked” that agencies are not following the simplified documentation requirements while processing applications. “We have notified new rules on the local level. If you do have previous Schengen visas, you should not be asked again (for bank statements and similar documentation).”
Meanwhile, the horror stories continue to flow in. Gupta of Peekay Holidays refers to a family of three who applied for a visa, only to find the parents’ application rejected and the son’s approved. Or another client, with Rs 16 lakh in their account being told “You don’t have sufficient funds.” He asks, “When the world is opening up to India, why can’t you?”