It takes close to 45 days to obtain a UK tourist visa and other Schengen countries are not far behind in terms of delays in processing visas. These were the complaints emerging from various tour operators and travel associations that have appeared in the media. This has put the plans of a vast majority of Indians, who wished to travel for a European holiday, in jeopardy.
This summer was expected to be a profitable year for a large number of tour operators who have emerged from the downturn of the pandemic induced weak travel demand of the last two years. Their hopes of turning their fortunes around rest on the uptick of Indians travelling overseas, however, this year looks like a dampener for most of them who sell Europe.
Embassies complain of a lack of staff, whereas the VFS makes the case that they are only a processing entity that does non-judgmental work and has no say on when the visas will be issued. Overall, this has impacted the holiday plans of Indians travelling to Europe, to escape the harsh Indian summer.
However, for those intending to travel to Europe all is not lost. There are a few countries in Europe such as Turkey, Norway, Sweden and Croatia among others who either allow visa-on-arrival or speedier visa clearance in order to attract tourists.
Many European embassies claim that they are short-staffed and do not have the personnel to process visas. This is at a time when a vast majority of countries, are opening their doors to tourism to counter the lack of opportunities in other sectors and to tide over inflation that’s burning a hole in everyone’s pockets.
Another challenge that tourists face is that while the visa processing time takes its time, their passports are in the custody of the embassies which makes it even more difficult for them to opt for another destination. It’s time the government intervenes and highlights this issue with the respective countries as it’s unfair on Indians whose passports are withheld by the foreign embassies. There needs to be a mechanism to address this pain point in the visa process. If the processing time takes beyond the threshold limit of the number of days, the applicant should be given the option of withdrawing his/her application and saved the hassle of waiting endlessly.
This has been a perineal problem, and this was widespread even before the pandemic.
The only short-term solution is for tour operators to advise potential travellers to shift their choice of destination and thereby save the traveller’s holiday.
Hopefully, lessons of this year will help embassies to work out their plan for the next season and reduce the hassle for the traveler and the tour operator who is more often than blamed by the traveler.
