The government of Germany is to set up a permanent visa application center for German Schengen visa in Maldives, next year.

This was revealed at a press conference on Monday, where Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid and Germany’s Ambassador Joern Rohde revealed that the center will be opened on 2 March 2020.

This decision will provide ease for Maldivians who wish to travel to Germany as Maldivians currently have to travel to India’s Delhi or Colombo, Sri Lanka in order to acquire a Schengen visa.

Although the initial arrangement will allow travel to Germany through the Schengen visa, FM Shahid highlighted that this is the first step to ease travel for Maldivians throughout Europe.

FM Shahid went on to thank the German government for making the arrangement for Maldivians.

To acquire a Schengen visa, individuals are required to submit applications for visa to the new Visa Facilitation Services (VFS) office that is to open in capital city Malé.

Further, Ambassador Rohde revealed that a temporary biometric clinic will be opened from 3 – 5 February, for German Schengen visas. This will be done to provide visas efficiently for those who wish to travel to Germany for the ITB Fair set to be held next year in Berlin.

Schengen countries include 26 sovereign states: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Maldives has on-arrival visa arrangements into 84 countries thus far, with the government having signed visa-waiver agreements with United Arab Emirates, Russia, Morocco and Thailand so far this year.