French Consulate lifts visa restrictions for travel agents
On Friday, March 30, French visa application center sent out an e-mail to accredited travel agents, saying that the General Consulate has canceled the restrictions on travel dates when applying for a visa. Thus starting from today, the travel agents will be able to submit the passports according to their qouta, which is 100-150 passports a day.
It will be recalled that every day from March 12th to 27th, the travel agents were receiving e-mails from the visa center, reporting about the limited number of applications, they were allowed to apply for visas only for certain departure dates. But these limitations didn’t prove to be useful. Passports were handed out, at best, the day before departure, and sometimes even on the very day of departure, causing very stressful situations, resulting in additional costs for travel agents and even cancellations of already paid tours. On March 28 the Russian Union of Travel Industry appealed to the French Ambassador, Mr. Jean de Gliniasty and the Consul Mr. Francis Guenon with the request to look into the causes of problems and help to resolve the situation.
"We have not received an official response to our appeal yet, but we believe that the actions of the Embassy of France are also an answer. The taken steps tell us that the Ambassador is going to solve the problem, and we are very thankful for that, "- said the press secretary of the Russian Union of Travel Industry, Irina Tyurina.
However, Mrs. Turina notes that during the
restriction period hundreds of passports, ready for handing in, have
accumulated in the offices of travel agents. Now the consulate will have to
make serious efforts to sort out these blockages. At the same time it should be
taken in consideration that since early April active sales of tours for May
holidays and summer will start, so the number of applications for visas will be
growing like an avalanche. "We hope for the support of the ambassador Mr.
de Gliniasty, - said Irina Tyurina. – Don’t treat Russian travel agents as
bothersome applicants. They are partners whose business contributes to the development
of tourism, which draws the financial flow to