In a notice dated 15 July, the Consulate-General of Greece in Guangzhou confirmed the full reopening of its outsourced visa application centres (VACs) in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Fuzhou, Changsha and Kunming. The centres, run by the GVC World network, had operated on reduced capacity since April because of staffing shortages and system upgrades. From 4 March onward all Schengen visa applications for residents of Guangdong, Fujian, Hainan, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou and Hunan must be lodged at the VAC corresponding to the applicant’s domicile. Walk-ins at the consulate are no longer accepted. The move aims to standardise processing times and reduce long-distance travel for applicants in China’s south-west, many of whom previously mailed passports to Beijing. The consulate says biometric enrolment slots have been doubled to 600 daily across the five cities, and express-processing for seafarers and emergency business travel resumes immediately. Applicants who filed during the partial closure will have passports returned via the centre that accepted their documents. For corporates this removes a bottleneck that had delayed project-kickoff trips to Greece and onward Schengen destinations. Mobility teams should update travel advice to reflect the city-based jurisdiction rules and ensure travellers schedule biometrics well in advance of September’s trade-fair season in Thessaloniki. Companies using travel-management companies should confirm that courier services are aligned with the resumed local submission model.
