Visa waiting times for international exhibitors and visitors who want to take part in trade fairs in Germany are still too long in many countries. This was revealed by a survey conducted by the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry (AUMA) this July and August among the foreign representatives of German trade fair organisers. AUMA analysed over 60 responses from more than 30 countries requiring visas. There is no sign of a significant easing of the situation compared to last year's survey.
Germany's consulates in China top the negative list. In the economic centre of Shanghai, for example, there are sometimes no free time slots offered in the appointment portal. Applicants are put off trying again at a later date. If appointments are offered, waiting times of weeks or even months are the rule. In addition, there are complaints that the electronic appointment system of the service provider for German embassies and consulates does not work reliably, meaning that it is not always possible to search for appointments. A piquant fact: an AUMA survey of international trade fair organisers has revealed that over 20,000 employees of exhibiting companies from China are expected to attend trade fairs in Germany in the next three months alone - 8,000 of them from the consular district of Shanghai. Chinese companies top the list of foreign exhibitors in Germany in 2023. Although Chinese travel restrictions due to the pandemic had already been lifted at the beginning of 2023, the German trade fair industry continues to suffer from this visa practice of the German embassies and consulates, which is difficult for business people to accept. China, on the other hand, recently announced that it would extend the cancelled visa requirement for Germans travelling to China until the end of 2025.
Other countries that require visas, such as Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey, have also reported waiting times of several weeks to several months for trade fair visitors to get an appointment to submit a visa application. And this despite the fact that the EU Visa Code stipulates that appointments to submit visa applications should generally take place within two weeks. Many German diplomatic missions abroad are far from meeting this requirement.
Representatives of the German trade fair companies and AUMA will use the results of the AUMA survey at the Business Day of the Ambassadors' Conference on 10 September at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin to address the visa problems in direct talks with ambassadors and consuls and demand solutions for trade fair participants.
In 2023, over 14,000 exhibiting companies and 70,000 visitors from China, almost 5,000 exhibiting companies and 80,000 visitors from Turkey and over 3,000 exhibiting companies and 45,000 visitors from India came to international trade fairs in Germany. Trade fair participants from countries requiring visas are therefore an important pillar for the success of the German trade fair industry.
