German Consul General Rolf Theodor Schuster and guest of honor Attiya Al-Ghamdi, deputy director-general of protocol at the Foreign Ministry's Makkah branch, listen to the German and Saudi national anthems on the occasion of the Day of German Unity. — SG photo Selma Roth Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — The German Consul General here warns people that although the Schengen visa allows one to travel through all countries participating in the Schengen Agreement, one needs “to get the Schengen visa from the country of main destination," something many travelers are not aware of. He cited a case in the media of a Saudi citizen who had been detained at the French airport for trying to enter the country with a Schengen visa obtained from the Italian Embassy in the Kingdom, and said similar situations had happened in Germany. Rolf Theodor Schuster was talking on the sidelines of the celebrations for the German Unity Day, which was held on Wednesday, November 13 at the consul general's premises. The day had been postponed for a month this year – German Unity Day is usually celebrated on October 3 – following the advice of Ambassador Tayed to ensure the guests' comfort at the outside event. A variety of consuls general and businessmen attended the event, including guest of honor Attiya Al-Ghamdi, deputy director-general of protocol at the Foreign Ministry's Makkah branch. Schuster said he was happy the German Consulate had begun to provide Schengen visas a year ago, and so far they had issued around 10,000 visas for Saudi citizens who travel to Europe with Germany as their main destination. This, he said, had improved “the exchange between Germany and Saudi Arabia, as ordered by German Foreign Minister Westerwelle in February 2012." Given the considerable increase in applications over the last couple of months, Schuster said he expected the figure to be higher next year. “We are doing a good job. We are service oriented,” he said, stressing that all Schengen countries followed the same process for issuing visas. While relations between the two countries had been excellent since the first treaty of friendship was signed in 1929, it also thrived this past year as a result of the increasing number of bilateral networking events, such as the Arab-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the German Water Partnership, and the dialogue forum on “bridging cultures” in cooperation with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Schuster said. “We do not ignore that we have an excess in the balance of trade,” he added after his speech, “but we try to offset this by investments.” Meanwhile, the consul's residence garden was home to various cultural events, the highlight of which were the Saudi-German hip hop activities that have taken place throughout this year. Regarding the issuance of Schengen visas, Schuster acknowledged the difficulties his consulate was facing due to the lack of a counter for the public. As a result, visa applications have to go through the visa application center, he said, indicating that this had already sped up the process considerably, as previously, applications had to be sent to the embassy in Riyadh. Commenting on this situation, he said that for many years there hasn't been a real consulate. The consulate has its offices inside a compound and cannot receive the public there, but is currently renovating a house to open a “fully functional consulate, which can offer all the services.” Schuster said the renovations are scheduled to be concluded by April 2014, but he expects the new consulate to open around June next year.
