Travellers Face Financial Losses as Processing Time for Schengen Visa Increases
Third-country travellers that need a Schengen visa in order to be permitted entry to the EU are facing long waiting times as the demand has increased significantly.
Nationals of third countries applying for a Schengen visa are complaining about financial losses as they have already booked their flight tickets and hotels, which need to be added to the visa application. Since their visa, in most cases, is not being issued on time, they have been losing money when making cancellations, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.
The latest data on the EU countries shows that there are currently no appointment slots available until July. Even in July, only a few countries have available slots.
Of all the EU countries, Germany, the Netherlands, and Austria currently have the longest waiting time for a Schengen visa. In contrast, France has the shortest waiting time.
A Schengen visa is a short-stay visa that allows an individual to travel to any Schengen Area state for up to 90 days for tourism and other purposes. A visa is needed by citizens of all third countries that do not have a visa-free travel agreement with the Schengen states.
EU countries issue different types of short-term Schengen visas. Nationals from third countries that only want to get a visa for travel purposes need to apply for a tourist Schengen visa.
The tourist Schengen visa permits third-country nationals to enter the Schengen Area for a maximum of 90 days within a period of six months, provided that the main purpose of the applicant is to enter Europe for travel purposes.
Since only a few countries have shorter waiting times, travellers have been applying for a Schengen visa of an EU country that they did not plan on visiting. This has been causing them to spend more money as travellers first need to enter the country that issued their visas and then travel to their intended destination.
Previously, atozserwisplus.com reported that Sweden, Norway, France, and Denmark were most likely to reject Schengen visa applications in 2021.
The newly published Schengen Visa Statistics show that these four countries had the highest rejection rates of visa applications submitted by travellers from third countries.
On the other hand, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Lithuania, Czechia, and Latvia had the lowest rejection rate in 2021.
