Are you travelling abroad during the Summer? If yes then these are some tips you need to note before planning your trip. We all know that visa is a very crucial part of our entire trip and everything that we have paid for further bookings is at stake until we get the visa.
We cannot do anything about the visa conclusion that the Embassy/Consulate will take on our application, but we can surely take other precautions to reduce the risk of not getting a visa on time. Every year during the high peak season we have seen travelers postponing or cancelling their trips just because of not having enough processing time.
Below are some problems that we as traveler generally do not know arising at the consulates/ VFS / agents, etc. Let us take a look at this -
Heavy Rush At Consulate – This is obvious as summer is the time when maximum Indians travel abroad for vacation, the reason being holidays and weather in different countries during that period. Indians majorly travel to the South East Asian countries, UK, Schengen and the US. For e.g. If the Embassy / Consulate normally takes time of 2 working days to process a visa, they will need more than 5 working days during the peak season. This is because for all countries’ visas there are maximum 4 consulates/embassies all over India.
If we consider Singapore destination as an example on an average, there are only 50 agents in Mumbai who has authorized logins, and a numerable number of travel agents accepting applications from travelers. This creates a huge load on the Consulate due to which they might put a restriction on the number of applications to be logged in on daily basis. So, if the Consulate is not accepting the applications then how can they issue a visa? Such situations are common. As a traveler, we expect our agents/consultants to help us in such situations but do not get what we expect. This is because of such situations out of any agent/consultants control. So, starting the application well advance saves you from all the last-minute hassle.
Heavy Rush at agents/consultants – You might think how can this in any way delay our visa process? 95% travelers process the visas through agents/consultants, resulting in a heavy rush just like embassy/consulate. Agents/consultants might not be able to help you on an urgent basis for your visa processing due to commitments to the prior applications that they have accepted for processing. This can result in forcing an applicant to do the entire process on their own including travelling to the Embassy / Consulate, preparation and submission of documents, getting the DD done, etc. So, avoid yourself of all this and start the process well ahead of time.
Non-availability of appointment date – Countries like Schengen, UK, USA require the applicant to visit personally for biometrics or interview to get the visa. The visa processing time starts after the appointment with the VFS / Consulate. Due to the large number of travelers the appointment get booked faster. When one starts the process well in advance we give the Consulate enough time to process our visa even after the appointment date. The unavailability of appointment dates might result in a delay of visas, hampering our other travel arrangements and causing heavy losses.
Non-coordination from Embassy / Consulate – The Embassy / Consulate if requested generally consider the applications with earlier travel date and process it faster but naturally due to heavy rush, we face this major problem of non–coordination from the Embassy / Consulate. It is not easy to get in touch with them and request to process the application faster. Even after submission, the application is not taken for verification
immediately by the competent authority. This creates a major risk of delay in visa application process.
Mistake in visa – There can be mistakes in the visa after issuance like the passport number can be wrong, there can spelling mistakes in the name, sometimes single entry visa is
issued instead of multiple entries whereas you are entering the destination country more than 2 times. Such issues are normal during the season time, so one needs to be careful to have a minimum of 3 – 4 working days after the visa processing before our travel date. In such situations, we need to resubmit the passport and get the correction made.
Below is the earliest time you can start the visa process for some major countries to help you plan your travel and visa process –
South East Asia – 30 days prior to the travel date
UK – 90 days prior to the travel date
Schengen - 90 days prior to the travel date
USA - 90 days prior to the travel date
China - 90 days prior to the travel date
Japan - 90 days prior to the travel date
So next time you plan a trip make sure you start your application exactly as per above timelines just to save yourself from all the hassle.
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