Embassy of Greece in India Hires Additional Staff to Accelerate Visa Processing

The decision of the Greek authorities to hire additional staff follows multiple complaints regarding delays in the visa processing, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.

The Embassy said that the number of people applying for a visa has increased significantly now that the COVID-19 restrictions have been dropped.

“An exceptionally high volume of requests was recorded in the last months,” the Greek Embassy in Delhi said.

As a result, due to the high demand, visa processing centres have been dealing with a backlog, whereas applicants have been facing long waiting times, which have impacted their holiday plans.

After taking into account such issues, the Greek authorities advised that the consular office in Delhi gets immediately reinforced with additional staff.

“Upon instructions from the minister of foreign affairs Nikos Dendias and in consultation with the minister of tourism Vassilis Kikilias, the Greek Embassy in New Delhi, as well as the consular office, was immediately reinforced with additional staff in order to address the surge in entry visa applications,” the Embassy added.

Apart from deciding to hire additional staff, the Embassy pointed out that they will offer special options to citizens of India who have been unable to travel to Greece in may due to visa delays. Further details regarding the matter are yet to be revealed. Some media have already reported that the Greek Embassy will offer a visa fee waiver for those who were unable to reach Greece due to visa processing delays.

In addition to the above-mentioned, a spokesperson of a visa application centre in India previously revealed that Greece has put in place an initiative to clear the backlog in India.

The spokesperson said that embassy officials have been working on weekends as well as after office hours.

Now that the embassy officials are working with more staff and after office hours, it has been emphasised that the processing time has been reduced. The spokesperson explained that before such changes were made, applicants had to wait over 45 days for their passports to be ready. On the other hand, now, the processing time for a visa has been reduced to 20 working days.

All citizens of India need a visa in order to be able to visit Greece or any other Schengen Area country. Those wishing to visit Greece for travel purposes need to apply for a tourist/visitor visa.