Spain, Slovakia to issue ‘Gratis Visa’ to Indians in the wake of COVID-19 crisis

Embassies of Spain and Slovakia have agreed to issue 'Gratis Visa' to all Indians who were issued a visa earlier this year, but could not travel in the last few months due to the Coronavirus outbreak. The decision came after an appeal forwarded by the Outbound Tour Operators' Association of India (OTOAI), which had sent letters to European embassies in India, requesting them to issue Gratis Visas to all those travellers, who despite having received valid travel visas this year could not undertake the planned visits, the association said in a statement.
OTOAI President Riaz Munshi said that with this development, they are hopeful that in the coming days, more European Embassies will likely agree to issuing Gratis Visa. He added that though it might take some time for outbound travel to pick up from India but, moves, particularly like these will help in building people's confidence for international travel while also offering some relief to their pocket.

Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to India Ivan Lancaric added that those who could not travel on their Schengen visas to Slovakia earlier because of the Coronavirus outbreak, they can now apply for this visa fee waiver individually at the time of the submission of their new application.
He added that this will cover not only tourists but all the Schengen visa categories, and mentioned that they are keen to boost travel destinations in Slovakia. He reiterated that My Visa section will assist tourists travelling to Slovakia in this matter, once they start reapplying for a Schengen visa.
Further, the Embassy of Spain mentioned in its official statement that the Embassy of Spain will reissue the visa without any cost. The petition for the same should be routed through BLS only, for which they will be asked to pay the service tax to BLS.