Residents of the UAE wishing to apply for a Schengen visa to travel this summer will, unfortunately, be unable to until after mid-September as the travel sector has received a large surge of visa appointments from people who’ve delayed their holidays due to the pandemic.
A Schengen visa is for residents from non-European countries that are travelling for a short term to one of the 26 countries within the Schengen area, including Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
Millions of people are planning to travel to cooler countries to escape the UAE summer heat and to Europe in particular.
However, according to travel industry executives, there are currently 26 countries where no visa slots are available to book. If you’re planning to book for one of the still available countries, expect to wait at least two weeks for your application to be processed.
To be able to book an appointment for a Schengen visa, it will only be available to book in September and the processing takes a further time of 15 to 18 days.
This is happening due to embassies and consulates not having any capacity with appointments already getting booked for September two months early.
On the bright side, if residents have travelled to the EU before, the visa processing speed will be much faster than those going for the first time.
For more information regarding the Schengen visa, visit the VFS website here.
Holidays on hold…
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