Berlin, 18th June, 2024 (WAM) -- The German Foreign Ministry is rapidly accelerating visa procedures for the skilled workers needed for the economy, Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said at a Greens party gathering in Berlin on Tuesday.
In a statement carried by the German Press Agency (dpa), Baerbock said the waiting time for a visa at the German embassy in New Delhi had been cut to two weeks.
"Previously, it was nine months," she added, attributing the change to digitalisation and centralisation.
The ministry aims to digitalise the entire visa procedure by the end of the current legislative period next year.
The number of national visas issued would have to rise by 63 percent according to ministry predictions to accommodate the 400,000 people who have to enter Germany every year to keep the number of people in employment constant.