Aashima Arora is a venture capitalist and partner at LocalGlobe who grew up in Delhi and is currently based in London.
(Image credit: Aashima Arora)An Indian investor based in London recently had to miss an international flight despite waiting for months and spending more than Rs 4 lakh waiting for a Schengen visa to visit Denmark.
Story continues below Advertisement Remove Ad"Europe, I promise I don’t want to marry your men or leave London to illegally stay in your cities.
She added that since she is an Indian passport holder with UK biometric residence permit, she has to fill out forms from both countries.
"When they give an appointment, I have to make sure that I am not travelling anywhere else on my passport.
Aashima Arora is a venture capitalist and partner at LocalGlobe who grew up in Delhi and is currently based in London. (Image credit: Aashima Arora)
An Indian investor based in London recently had to miss an international flight despite waiting for months and spending more than Rs 4 lakh waiting for a Schengen visa to visit Denmark.
Aashima Arora, a venture capitalist and partner at LocalGlobe who grew up in Delhi, shared pictures of the hundreds of pages of documents she has ready for her visa appointment and wished that the authorities would realise that she wants the visa to travel for work and not to settle down in any of the other European countries illegally.
Story continues below Advertisement Remove Ad
"Europe, I promise I don’t want to marry your men or leave London to illegally stay in your cities. Also promise to spend more than $250 a day. Please just grant me a TOURIST visa!" the 28-year-old, who was featured in Forbes 30 under 30 Europe Finance list, wrote on X.
She added that since she is an Indian passport holder with UK biometric residence permit, she has to fill out forms from both countries. Also, since this was a work-related trip, so she also arranged for the required documents and approvals apart from the usual tourist-related forms.
Speaking to Moneycontrol, Arora said that although she has faced delays in the visa process earlier, this time, it cost her a flight and more than Rs 4 lakh in payment to agents to get a quicker visa appointment date.
Story continues below Advertisement Remove Ad
"I am looking to invest up to $10 million in a (gaming) company based out of Copenhagen. I have known the founder for years, and he sent me a formal invitation letter, filled out all the forms correctly on time (so that I get the visa on time)," Arora said.
She added that she tried communicating with the Danish embassy for a business visa and after an interview, the authorities apparently assured her that her Schengen visa would be ready within a week, but it has been more than two weeks since then and there has been no further response from the embassy.
"I'm doing like a walk-in thing with the Danish embassy because they allow walk-in appointments for business visas which is great (because) you don't have to wait months for it, but after submitting the documents, now I found out that their processing time is up to 90 days," Arora told the publication.
The wait time for Schengen visas is particularly high for Indian travellers intending to visit popular destinations such as France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. According to Arora, the current waiting time is especially excruciating because it would mean that she would be unable to use her passport until she gets the visa.
"When they give an appointment, I have to make sure that I am not travelling anywhere else on my passport. So basically, if I have to go to the US or India or anywhere outside the UK, I can't plan my life because Schengen appointments are so delayed," Arora said.
