the swiss visa acceptance center (vac) in shenzhen came into service thursday in futian district. it is one of nine new swiss vacs scheduled to open in nine chinese cities from june to july for chinese nationals, according to the swiss embassy's press release.
“we have been dedicated to providing fast and convenient visa services to chinese tourists and businessmen. with these new visa centers, we are aiming to offer faster, smoother and more convenient services to the increasing number of chinese travelers to switzerland,” said wyss rudolf, counselor and head of operations at the swiss embassy in beijing.
the expansion of the visa services is meant to meet the increasing number of chinese tourists to switzerland following the opening of three vacs in chengdu, wuhan and shenyang in january. with the existing vacs in beijing, shanghai and guangzhou, there will be 15 swiss visa centers across china in addition to the visa sections at the swiss embassy and consulates general.
the nine new vacs will be operated by the swiss embassy's commercial partner tlscontact.
"applicants first make online appointments through tlscontact's website. they then will receive an appointment at the centers to submit required documents," rudolf said.
he said the vacs have no role or influence over the outcome of an application. the decision to issue or refuse a visa or request additional documents is made solely by swiss immigration authorities, in accordance with switzerland's immigration visa rules and guidelines.
in 2015, switzerland issued 81,000 visas to chinese applicants. the overnight stays from chinese tourists in switzerland came to a record number of over 1.6 million, up by 33 percent over the previous year. china now is the fourth-biggest source of tourists to switzerland and the biggest from asia.
according to the swiss federal department of foreign affairs, 45 percent of the visas issued to chinese applicants are multi-entry or long-term visas. short-stay individual visa applications are processed within 48 hours, and at vacs it should take no longer than five days for applicants to receive their visas.
the swiss embassy and the vacs are also working together to provide mobile biometry.
"in addition to the new vacs, we have just started to offer the mobile biometry, an on-demand mobile biometrics service which applicants can order and have their biometric data taken at certain locations instead of visiting the vacs," rudolf said.
the visa center in shenzhen is located in the news building, no. 1002 shennan road central, futian district. for more information about visa application, residents can visit tlscontact's web page ch.tlscontact.com, call 8610 8532 8888 or send emails to bei.visa@eda.admin.ch.
