The Embassies of Spain and Slovakia have agreed to issue gratis visas to all Indians who had been issued a visa earlier this year but could not undertake travel in the last few months because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The decision came following an appeal by OTOAI (Outbound Tour Operators Association of India), which had sent letters to Embassies in India, requesting them to issue free visas to all those travellers who despite having received valid travel visas this year could not undertake the planned visits.

“Applicants who could not travel on their Schengen visas to Slovakia, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, can apply for this visa fee waiver individually at the time of the submission of their new application. This possibility covers not only tourists but all the Schengen visa categories,’’ says Ivan Lancaric, Ambassador of Slovakia to India.

“Please be informed that the Embassy of Spain will reissue the visa without any cost. The petition for the same should be routed through BLS only for which the applicant will be asked to pay the service tax to BLS,” said an official statement from the Spanish embassy.

The development was welcomed by Riaz Munshi, president of OTOAI. “We are pleased with this development and remain hopeful that in times to come, more European Embassies will agree to issuing gratis visas. We understand that it will take some time for outbound travel to pick up from India but moves such as these will help in building people’s confidence for international travel while also offering some relief to their pocket.”