Germany to change visa application regime for Russians

Germany's consulates general in Russia will change from June 1 to a new mode of reception of documents required for obtaining a national visa (stays over 90 days) due to the increased demand.

“It will no longer be possible to make an appointment directly through the visa office or VisaMetric Visa Application Centre. You will need to put yourself on a waiting list through the embassy's booking system and appointments for your application will then be made in chronological order,” Caliber.Az reports, citing the website of the German embassy in Moscow.

In addition, the visa departments of the German consulate-general in Kaliningrad, St Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk will end accepting visa applications as of May 31. Documents will only be processed at the German embassy in Moscow.

"VisaMetric visa centres located in the aforementioned cities will continue to operate. However, due to postal shipments, longer processing times should be taken into account," the statement said.