The French Consulate General in Moscow has extended the processing time for visa applications starting Thursday. for several days, the diplomatic mission reported on its website, Interfax reports.
"Starting June 21, due to technical issues, the visa application processing time will increase by several days," the statement said.
According to the Schengen visa issuance regulations, consulates have a maximum processing time of 10 working days. However, since early November 2017, France has been issuing Schengen visas to Russian citizens within 48 hours if the documents are submitted in Moscow.
A source in the tourism industry told Interfax-Tourism that the extended visa processing times may be related to the change of the French Consul General in Russia. Consul Mark Sediy is leaving Russia at the end of June after three years on the job.
According to the source, tour operators learned of this with sadness, as over the past year the consulate has reduced the processing time to 48 hours when submitting documents in Moscow, introduced mobile biometrics, and overall become one of the most user-friendly among Schengen countries.
Source: trn-news.ru
