Germany opens Consulate office in Bangalore
Bangalore, Nov 21 (UNI) German Minister for Foreign Affairs today opened its Consulate Office here.
Germany, thus became the first country to have its Consulate Office in Bangalore.
The Minister unveiled the ceremonial plaque 'Bundes Republic Deutschland Indian General Consulate' here with German Ambassador Bernd Mutzelburg, Consul General Stefan Graf and an 80 member trade delegation.
Deputy Consul Fridrich Rahn said ''the Consulate will start issuing visas and work permits only a year later. However it will receive applications and process them for issuing visas or work permits from the Consulate in Chennai.'' ''Applications for a Schengen visa can also be submitted to the Consulate here,'' he added.
The Bangalore Consulate would cater to the people in Karnataka and Kerala when fully operational.
Mr
Rahn
said
''the
Chennai
Consulate
issued
about
24,000
German
visas
to
applicants
from
Karnataka
and
Kerala
in
2007.
The
number
of
visas
has
been
going
up
by
10
percent
annually
with
Karnataka
accounting
for
two-thirds
and
Kerala
one-third.''
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