Switzerland Embassy has not suspended visa appointments for Indian tour groups

The Switzerland Embassy today issued a statement to clarify that it has not suspended Schengen visa appointments for Indian tour groups.

The statement was released on Twitter and read, “The Embassy of Switzerland in India has not suspended Schengen visa appointments for Indian tour groups. We have almost 800 daily appointments through the end of September 2023. These include 22 groups.”

Press Statement:

The Embassy of Switzerland in India has not suspended Schengen visa appointments for Indian tour groups. We have almost 800 daily appointments through the end of September 2023. These include 22 groups. pic.twitter.com/HtGs6OJbYr

— Embassy of Switzerland to India and Bhutan (@SwissEmbassyIND) August 3, 2023

The Embassy said that people-to-people contact is at the core of the Swiss-Indian relationship. The Embassy of Switzerland in India processed more visa applications in 2023 than it did in 2019. “We have surpassed our pre-pandemic times processing level. From January until June, we handled 129,446 applications, as against 120,071 during the same period in 2019 – a 7.8 per cent increase,” the statement read.

The Switzerland Embassy further informed the measures that have been implemented since the beginning of this year to further ease the visa application process for Indian applicants:

1. It is possible for the applicants to apply for their visa six months before their date of travel, as against one month in the past. So, someone wishing to travel in June can already apply for a visa in January.
2. The Embassy has increased its overall capacity in India. With a new Visa Application Centre (VAC) in Lucknow, there are now 13 VACs all over India, where applications can be submitted.
3. Currently, it takes no more than 13 working days between the appointment by our partner VFS and the Embassy’s decision on the application.