German Schengen Visa processing time reduced but only for these citizens

NEW DELHI - The processing time for a German Sschengen visa has been reduced in a major relief but only for citizens of India.

The deputy head of mission at the German Embassy in India, Georg Enzweiler, confirmed that the processing time has been reduced to eight weeks.

“We have increased our staff substantially in Mumbai and I think the waiting time has substantially gone down. We are at roughly eight weeks now. We hope to get better with regard to that because of course it is what we want,” Enzweiler said at a press conference.

The official elaborated that the German Embassy will continue to make more efforts to bring down the processing time further, adding that one of the country’s goals is to attract more visitors from India.

“We are very happy to have increasing numbers of tourists from India to Germany. This is one of our goals to attract more people from India to visit Germany and we are doing our best to cope with the visa applications,” Enzweiler added.

The German diplomat acknowledging the bureaucratic challenges said that measures need to be taken to address the issue and added that they have already increased the number of staff in Mumbai, suggesting that applicants will no longer have to face long waiting times as before.

Statistics revealed by SchengenVisaInfo show that a total of 76,352 Indians applied for a German Schengen visa in 2022. Regarding the spending in terms of visa fees, the highest amount was spent at the Mumbai consulate while the New Delhi, as well as Bangalore consulates, followed.

India has not reached a visa-free travel agreement with the EU and all of its citizens are required to apply for a visa when planning to enter Germany or any other Schengen country.