German consulate to offer more bookings

The German Consulate in Shanghai said on Sunday that it plans to increase the number of appointments offered to visa applicants to serve a swelling number of Chinese residents frustrated over the difficulties of getting past the doors of its visa office on Tongren Road.

However, no details regarding the extra timeslots, or when the move would be implemented were released on Sunday.

"We admit that there are limits in our dealings with an increasing number of applicants, and we promise to enlarge the working capacity of our visa section to solve the problem soon," Gudrun Lingner, a consul for the consulate, told the Global Times.

Her refusal to say more offered little hope to Chinese residents, however, anxious for an appointment that may allow them to visit the country.

"My friend just found out she's pregnant and is stressing out over the situation because she hasn't been able to get appointments for her parents so they can come visit," a graduate student studying in Germany, surnamed Li, told the Global Times on Sunday.

The situation at the visa office has gained attention from the press, particularly after foreign media reported last month that scalpers were busy profiting off the sale of German visa appointments.

Currently, Chinese residents within the Yangtze River Delta can only secure individual appointments by making reservations online, via a booking platform available only in German and English.

The consulate has declined to reveal the number of visa appointments it opens daily, but it reported receiving more than 80,000 visa applicants in 2010, a figure estimated to be up by 25 percent this year.

Lingner failed to confirm or deny whether scalpers are selling appointments to prospective visitors, but emphasized that only people with an online reservation would be let in.

Scalpers on China's largest online retailer Taobao.com, meanwhile, were still actively pursuing customers - but even they had supply glitches.

"We haven't been able to get German visa appointments for a while," a scalper told the Global Times on Sunday. "But, 1,000 yuan ($160) will get you one in two days at the French consulate - and if you're approved there, you can still travel to Germany under the Schengen Agreement."