The Ministry of Foreign Affairs named one of the reasons behind an increased number of refusals among Kazakh citizens in obtaining a Schengen visa, QazMonitor reports citing the MFA press service.
Briefing: On April 8, during the weekly media briefing, the MFA spokesperson Aibek Smadiyarov remarked on the current visa regime-related processes and obstacles between Kazakhstan and other countries. He said that the Ministry is working to ease the visa regime with the countries of the European Union.
Visa rejections: The spokesperson talked about the increase in Schengen visa refusals among Kazakh citizens.
“According to information received from consuls of European countries, cases of providing falsified documents have become more frequent in Kazakhstan, which in turn leads to an increase in rejections to obtain a Schengen visa,”
Smadiyarov added that submitting documents containing false information to obtain a visa causes significant harm to the image of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which in turn complicates negotiations on visa liberalization, and also worsens the visa records of our citizens, increasing the chance of visa rejections in the future.
Longer processing: The spokesperson also explained the reasons behind the delays in visa applications for Kazakh citizens. The provision of falsified documents increases the processing time for visa applications due to the need for careful verification, leading to more frequent delay complaints from citizens.
The Ministry urged Kazakh citizens to be cautious and approach the visa application responsibly regarding all the steps including accuracy of the document submission and paying the required fees.