Situation With ‘May’ Visas to Europe

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   On April 28th a BANKO correspondent contacted Russian tour operating companies which organize tour to Europe to learn about the situation with visa issuing process before May Holidays. In general travel market players assess the current situation as steady despite the increased number of visa applications. However, they pointed out that the visa issuing period in the Germany Embassy has increased by 2-3 weeks. Thus, Svetlana Stroganova, General Director of Eurotravel, said to a BANKO correspondent that on April 28th the German Embassy accepted applications only for May 18th. The situation could be improved by hiring additional personnel or to lengthen a working week as it was done last summer. Nevertheless, according to tour operating companies the Embassy does not plan to take such measures in order to cope with the increased workload.
   Meanwhile, tour operators did not define any problems in the visa issuing process in the Austrian, Greek and Czech Embassies. It took there six days to issue ‘May’ visas.