Joint Schengen visa center to open in Almaty

Joint visa center under Consulate General of Hungary in Almaty will start accepting applications and issuing Schengen visas starting from July 1, 2011. The visa center will be officially open on June 30, Tengrinews.kz reports citing Consular General of Hungary in Almaty Silard Teleki as saying at the press-conference called Opening of the joint visa center of Hungary, Austria, Latvia, Slovakia and Slovenia in Almaty. “We were representing four countries before. Slovakia will join us tomorrow. Thus, Hungary will represent five countries in Kazakhstan. We want Kazakhstan citizens to have an easier access to Schengen visas. This will be a relieve for them,” he said. Joint visa center is made to provide greater comfort the citizens. “Currently main embassies have moved from Almaty to Astana. This is a long distance. So sometimes people need to travel from one city to another to get a visa,” Teleki said. The Consulate will accept applications for Hungarian Schengen visas and issue Schengen visas on behalf of Austria, Latvia, Slovenia and Slovakia. In future the Consulate is planning to expand its visa center to accept and process applications on behalf of those Schengen countries which do not have offices in Almaty. Austrian embassy in Astana issued around 2,500 visas in 2010. “We hope that the number of issued Schengen visas will increase after the opening of the new Consulate,” the Consular added. By Irina Mikhailova