Schengen Visa vs UK Visa: Which one is quicker?

Schengen Visa vs UK visa

Schengen visas are currently being processed within 15-20 working days. “France is now issuing visas in five to six days, while Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Italy and Portugal are processing applications within 15 working days; Greece is taking 3 weeks,” said Rajeev Kale, President and Country Head, Holidays, MICE, Visa - Thomas Cook (India) Limited, as per a report by Condé Nast Traveller.

However, getting the first appointment is a different matter. A few slots are available for France, but most of the appointments are full. According to VFS, Bengaluru has slots on 5 May and New Delhi has slots on 12 June, while Mumbai and Kolkata do not. Mumbai has appointments in August, Bengaluru has appointments in September, and Kolkata has appointments in April.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify this news development.

Akash said that there will be new appointments for Germany on 15 April, while you may not be able to find any appointments right now either. May slots are available in Switzerland. However, Nihal Daswani, of EASA, says, “A lot of my clients have opted for home biometrics, but yesterday, Switzerland made an announcement that all scheduled home biometric appointments stand cancelled indefinitely.”

A Swiss holiday may require some quick planning since there are no appointments until next month, and processing times can take up to two weeks, as per the report.

“As of now, we are facing a major challenge with countries like Portugal and the Netherlands,” said Pratim Akash of Elite Tours and Travels. These countries have a smaller quota for tourist visas. There are no slots for The Netherlands in Bengaluru as of now, while Mumbai and New Delhi have slots in May and June respectively.

For an easier visa application, Akash recommends France and a visit to the Netherlands on the way. During the evenings, Spain also has slots available. Additionally, visas are processed within one to three working days, making it one of the fastest visa-processing services in the industry. Visa appointments for Greece are available within 15 to 20 days. “So people can even plan to travel in May and get a visa right now,” he adds. According to Daswani, Finland has a lot of appointments and a processing time of only about two weeks. “But Finland and Norway have a very high rejection rate, so that’s something to be aware of if you’re a first-time Schengen traveller.”

UK

The process of obtaining a tourist visa in the UK is not nearly as difficult as it is in Schengen countries. Applications and processing times are sped up due to the availability of multiple visa categories. “We have had clients who have applied for a standard UK visa, and their visas have been processed within 30 days,” said Akash.

As per Daswani, priority visas (£500 or Rs51,000) and super priority visas (£800 or Rs81,700) are processed within 5-6 working days, while the latter is processed in 1-2 working days. “Typically, at this time of the year, regular visas take about 5-6 weeks to be processed. But at this point of time in April, we haven’t seen that happen, and visas are still coming in 3-4 weeks. Wait times for appointments are just about 1-2 days as of now,” he added, as per the report.

What is a Schengen Visa?

Schengen visas allow you to visit any country within the Schengen area without border restrictions, i.e., any country that is part of the European Union's passport-free zone.

The visa allows the holder to stay for a period of 90 days in any of the 26 European countries covered by the Schengen area.