Registering for a Visa Has Become Impossible: 'Fact'

The newspaper 'Fact' reports that days ago, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Armenia, Alvina Sargsyan, met with EU Commissioner for Enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi. Among other issues, they discussed the 'dynamic process' of the EU's visa liberalization. This term is no longer new; it is frequently thrown into discussions after meetings between Armenian officials and various EU diplomats.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the Minister of Economy announced with great enthusiasm the 'establishment' of a Hungarian airline in Armenia. They also considered it a 'historic' success that Armenians can travel cheaply and without obstacles—roughly speaking, 'having coffee in Rome.'

However, as the public in Armenia is flattered by such phrasing, obtaining a Schengen visa is becoming increasingly challenging. In fact, it has become impossible even to secure an appointment. Specifically, for example, the embassies of Italy, France, and Germany have delegated this function to Tlscontact. This process has not only become complicated but is now nearly impossible to navigate independently.

It is clear that the embassies' 'appointments' are not unlimited, resulting in the fact that appointments do not open every day. Specifically, for the Italian visa, this occurs only 2 or 3 days a week during the timeframe between 16:00 and 18:00, lasting only a few seconds. People barely have the time to blink before the 'green' appointment time is gone.

Moreover, many complain that even when they have encountered a 'green' time slot and tried to register, either the system has crashed, or other technical issues have emerged, notably indicating that they have made 'too many attempts,' which citizens consider highly suspicious. Furthermore, we examined several groups where people discuss this topic and found that complaints are predominantly the same. Here, individuals note that an ordinary citizen cannot practically register at all.

In contrast, social networks are flooded with advertisements for organizations engaged in visa assistance, some of which even offer a 'booking guarantee' for a date (time) with attention... 100 percent. The prices for just 'booking' range from 40,000 to 80,000 drams. How they manage to 'register' is another topic for discussion. Industry insiders note that this has become a major source of business, and individuals cannot register independently to submit documents.

As a result, all of this contributes to the formation of an extremely negative attitude among the public, not only towards the embassies of EU member countries but also against the countries themselves.