The consulates of France, Germany and the Netherlands in Shanghai announced Thursday that a new joint visa application center has opened in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.
It is the largest satellite visa application center for the three countries in China, with 550 square meters, eight application counters, two premium counters and eight biometric counters.
To meet the growing demand of Chinese people seeking to travel to Europe, more decentralized joint visa application centers will be opened China-wide.
"Last year, 3.5 million Chinese tourists visited Europe and, among them, more than 2 million visited France. A total of 35,000 Chinese students study in France and thousands of business people and investors come every year. With our European partners, we want to encourage this dynamic and develop travels to Europe," Axel Cruau, Consul General of France in Shanghai, told the Global Times.
Meanwhile, the number of Chinese people visiting Germany and the Netherlands has also grown exponentially. The German Consulate General in Shanghai issued more than 150,000 Schengen visas for Germany in 2015. In four years, from 2011 to 2015, the volume of visas issued by the Consulate General of Germany in Shanghai increased by 18 percent.
David Naves, Deputy Consul General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Shanghai, said that the Netherlands issued 60,000 visas China-wise, and received 360,000 visitors from China last year. Among all these visitors, more than 10 percent were from Zhejiang Province.
According to Kong Desheng, Deputy Director General of Foreign Affairs Office of Hangzhou Municipality Government, the growing number of outbound tourists from Hangzhou has ranked it among the top cities in China.
The reason why Hangzhou was chosen as the location of the new joint visa application center is that the city is considered by these consulates to be among China's most dynamic economic powerhouses. The choice of Hangzhou as the host of the G20 Summit is sound evidence of this.
"In 2015, 60,925 Zhejiang residents applied for a visa to France, 30,812 to Germany and more than 4,000 for the Netherlands. We hope that those numbers will increase in the future thanks to the visa center," Cruau said.
No fortress Europe
The opening of the new visa application center, in cooperation with TLScontact group also marks a new level of visa service friendliness toward China.
"Hangzhou is the first location of a decentralized visa application center (VAC) outside Shanghai run by the Consulate General of Germany in Shanghai. Another VAC belonging to the Consulate General in Shanghai will soon open in Nanjing," Peter Rothen, Consul General of Germany in Shanghai, said.
To set up these visa application centers means higher costs for consulates. But the consuls general decided to make the visa application process easier for Chinese a step toward more people-to-people cultural exchange.
"We are coming to you, instead of letting you come to us. Obviously by doing so we make it easier for you to obtain the visa," said Rothen. "It shows there is no fortress Europe vis-à-vis Chinese travelers. On the contrary, there is an open door policy and a great welcome for Chinese visitors."
After the new centers are established, the visa application procedure will not be different from the application procedure in Shanghai. "The only difference is that applications received in Hangzhou will be sent to the TLS Shanghai center, to be transferred and processed at the consulates in less than 48 hours," Cruau said. "Because of the transport of applications and passports between Shanghai and Hangzhou, it's highly recommended to apply seven working days before your departure date."
The opening of these visa application centers does not restrict people from applying for visas in other cities. For instance, the residents of Zhejiang Province can still apply for visas in Shanghai if they prefer. As long as the applicants live in the consular area of the corresponding consulates, they may apply for visas directly at the consulates or centers.
Andy Mcfarlin, business development director of TLScontact Group, said at the press conference that the joint visa application center in Hangzhou opened for a trial run on April 15, and has already received 585 visa applications from Hangzhou and surrounding areas till May 4.
The visa application service for France and Germany has already covered Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Chengdu, Shenyang, Chongqing, Jinan, Changsha, Hangzhou and Shenzhen, among which the centers in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Hangzhou and Shenzhen also accept visa applications for the Netherlands. Soon, four more joint visa application centers will be opened in Nanjing, Xi'an, Kunming and Fuzhou.
