Problems with Schengen visas continue rapidly: What is the latest situation with applications?

With the approach of the summer months, many people are applying for Schengen visas. However, visa appointments for Spain, Germany, and Italy cannot be obtained until the end of May. The reason cited is the high volume of application requests.

The German Embassy stated in a post on its social media account regarding the matter that "waiting times can last several weeks or several months depending on the visa type."

Diplomatic sources also stated, "The relevant embassies contacted have reported that appointments may be pushed to later dates due to the intensity of visa applications and that they are working to overcome this problem, but that there is no question of closing applications."

WHEN IS THE EARLIEST APPOINTMENT AVAILABLE?

According to NTV's report on the subject, tourism professional Barış Meletlioğlu said, "For example, let's try to get a visa appointment for Italy. We enter the relevant webpage, select Italy, and then fill in the information. After filling it out, we are met with the message 'No appointment date found.' We see that the earliest date is June 28."

Stating that he believes this is not just caused by high demand, Meletlioğlu added, "We expect the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to intervene in this matter. Unfortunately, regardless of who the applicant is, if the consulates have filled their quota for that month, all applications are rejected," he said.

Even for those who manage to get an appointment, the number of rejections is quite high. Both those who want to travel and tourism professionals are suffering.

Meletlioğlu said, "We make our international plans in October and November of the previous year and make our agreements with airlines accordingly. However, if our guests to whom we have sold tickets are denied a visa, we cannot get these tickets canceled or refunded," he said.

News Source: 12punto