Woman Spends Rs 4 Lakh In Schengen Visa Hassle Only To Miss Her Flight

An Indian investor residing in London ended up missing an international flight recently, even though she had been awaiting a Schengen visa to visit Denmark for months and had paid over Rs 4 lakh for it. Venture capitalist Aashima Arora, a partner at LocalGlobe who grew up in Delhi, posted pictures of the hundreds of pages of paperwork she had ready for her visa appointment. She expressed her hope that the authorities would recognise that her purpose for obtaining the visa was to travel for work-related reasons and not to illegally settle in any other European country.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Aashima Arora wrote, “Europe, I promise I don’t want to marry your men or leave London to illegally stay in your cities. Also, promise to spend more than $250 a day. Please just grant me a TOURIST visa!”

The 28-year-old, who was listed in Forbes’ 30 under 30 Europe Finance list, continued by saying that she needs to fill out documents from both India and the UK because she has an Indian passport and a UK biometric resident card.

She also made arrangements for the necessary approvals and documentation in addition to the customary papers relating to tourists, as this was a work-related trip.

Aashima Arora told Moneycontrol that while she had previously experienced delays in the visa application process, this time she had to pay agents over Rs 4 lakh in addition to the expense of a ticket so as to get a speedier visa appointment date.

She stated that she is hoping to put up to $10 million into a Copenhagen-based (gaming) startup. She continued, saying that she had known the founder for years and that he had sent her an official invitation letter.

Aashima ensured timely and accurate completion of all necessary paperwork to obtain her visa. She mentioned attempting to reach out to the Danish embassy to secure a business visa.

Following an interview, the officials reportedly gave her the assurance that her Schengen visa would be ready in a week, but more than two weeks have passed and she has not heard back from the embassy.

Additionally, she talked about how she made a walk-in meeting with the Danish embassy, which eliminates the need to wait months for business visas.

However, she discovered that their processing time might take up to 90 days after submitting the documentation.