
A large number of documents are required to apply for a Schengen visa, which has angered citizens of third countries subject to the visa regime of the European Union.
Experiences of applying for a Schengen Visa from their home country has been shared by some applicants, who have expressed their dissatisfaction with the number of required documents.
The applicants’ frustration stems from the “mad” amount of paperwork required for a Schengen visa. One Indian applicant expressed her displeasure:
Why is it so difficult to understand:
- We are not interested in marrying your men, thank you.
- We are actually adding to the GDP of your country!!”
On April 25, she tweeted a picture of a pile of documents she had gathered for the application.
The stressed Indian additionally reprimanded VFSGlobal, an outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions worldwide, to which most of EU nations have re-appropriated the treatment of visa systems.
The Indian by name Bothra, claims that she had to wait for over 2 hours for an appointment. She also learned during the application process that the “speechless” document checklist on Norway’s website is out of date.
“My turn for an appointment at 11:30 a.m. came at 2 p.m.; why book a slot?” She wrote on her Twitter account that she had to pay an additional 150Rs, or approximately €1.66 per page, for each page printed at VFS.
She went on to say,
“Soul crushing would be an understatement to describe my visa experience,” at the end, calling for more competition to VFS Global in hopes of better services.
Several people around the world, including this Indian, have had similar experiences. Not only is India the only nation in which visa applicants are dissatisfied with the services and quantity of documents required for each Schengen visa application. There are, in fact, numerous experiences.
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A flood of people from other countries have also confirmed that applying for a Schengen visa requires a lot of paperwork and can be frustrating. They guarantee that applying for a Schengen visa is “the most horrendously terrible sort of experience” while adding that a significant number of the methods could be automated if government data was accessible digitally.
When applying for a Schengen visa, multiple documents must be collected and brought to the visa application center on the appointment day.
While the basic documents, like passport and older visa photocopies, health insurance valid for the whole trip, proof on how the traveller plans to cover their expenses during the trip, are the same for every applicant, the other documents depend on the type of visa one is applying for.
For instance, those applying for a business Schengen visa should present an invitation letter by the partner organization in the EU, as well as a short profile of the candidate’s working place, among others.