YEREVAN. – Starting April 3 the German Embassy in Armenia will no longer accept applications for Schengen visa for Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, and will transfer the function to VisaMetric center.

German Ambassador to Armenia Matthias Kiesler said the company will be engaged in accepting applications only, while the relevant staff sent by the German Foreign Ministry to Armenia is still responsible for the processing of the applications.

Speaking about the changes during a press conference on Wednesday, Ambassador said the center is not a new thing and similar companies are working in many countries. In particular, the embassies of Greece, Italy and Lithuania in Armenia are using the services of such centers.

Visa section attaché Alexander Barthold, in turn, added that the main goal of the changes is to increase productivity.

“There has been an increase in number of applications, and the waiting time took at least 6 weeks. Now the applicant will be able to apply to VisaMetric within 48 hours,” he said, adding that there were no other changes related to applications for national visas and other consular issues.

In addition, according to him, the clients will be able to obtain services of higher quality, including such as copying documents, making photographs, translations.

VisaMetric Program Coordinator in Armenia Elvira Bazirova added that they already have a call center where you can get the information. The company's website will also be able to trace the movement of the passport from the center to the embassy and will provide more details about the services.

The embassy will continue to accept applications for visas in a strictly limited amount. To register an application, VisaMetric will charge 20 euros.