Spanish Ambassador Eugenio Bregolat, at the inauguration of the visa centre in Beijing in 2012./ Photo: globalasia.com
The Diplomat. 28/01/2016
On 12 January, Spain got the authorization of Beijing’s Government to open twelve new Visa Application Service Centres in China, to be exact in the localities of Chengdu, Jinan, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Fuzhou, Changsha, Shenyang, Kunming, Chongqing, Xian and Shenzhen.
These are offices to receive Schengen visa applications (short stay visas, up to 90 days every six months) for ordinary passport holders. The set in motion of these new centres will allow speeding up short-stay visa applications “significantly”, according to the Foreign Ministry in a statement.
Besides, it will also increase the visits of Chinese citizens to Spain for tourism, business, investments, etc. “It is expected that this has a very positive impact in the bilateral economic flow between Spain and China”, the department of José Manuel García-Margallo pointed out.
The Spanish Executive hopes that these offices start working in February, once the package of agreements on consular affairs discussed at the last summit EU-China on 29 June 2015 is closed.
“The set in motion of the offices means an important effort made by Spain to strengthen our ties with China, a determined bet to increase the flow of businesspeople and tourists, and a positive example of the excellent state of relations between both countries”, the Foreign Ministry concluded.
