The French Embassy is doing its best to accommodate applicants hoping to get their Schengen visas, an official said.

Consular deputy head of mission Stefan Baumgarth blamed holidaymakers waiting until the last minute and the current situation in Lebanon for contributing to unusually large queues forming outside the embassy's gates throughout the working week.

'We realise there is a problem and we are doing our best to accommodate as many visa applicants as possible,' he said.

He urged holidaymakers to apply for their short-stay visas early to avoid the rush of applicants over the summer.

Baumgarth also urged Bahrainis and non-Bahrainis hoping to travel to European destinations, including France, Greece and Spain, to plan ahead instead of waiting till the last minute to submit the necessary documents needed to process their Schengen visas.

He acknowledged the long queues that have been forming outside the embassy on an almost daily basis, adding that two additional staff members have been added to the visa section to accommodate as many applicants as possible.

The visa section is open from 8am to 11am, but applicants said they had been turned away by the embassy because it had already reached its quota for the day.

Baumgarth said the embassy had increased its quota from 40 to 80 applications per day as a result.

'We are aware of the situation, but unfortunately the street we are on is not designed (to accommodate long queues),' said Baumgarth.

'It isn't our wish for people to wait outside in the heat and we do our best to keep them inside the embassy, but there are more people asking for visas this year than normal.'

Baumgarth said that the unstable situation in Lebanon, which was a popular summer destination, might have resulted Bahrainis choosing to travel to Europe for their annual holidays instead.

'With the situation in Lebanon, a lot of Bahrainis now don't want to go there and opt for Europe instead,' he said.

'And you know, as far as the processing of visas is concerned, the French Embassy issues Schengen visas not only to France but to Austria, Spain, Greece and Portugal. Other than the French Embassy, the German and Italian Embassies in Manama also issue Schengen visas.

'The German Embassy delivers visas for the following states: Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden; while the Italian Embassy issues visas to Italy only,' said Baumgarth.

'The three embassies all work together to make sure everybody who needs visas are taken care of.

'We now have four staff members working there (in the visa section), we do our best to take more and more applications.

'I do feel bad for the people waiting in the heat and, for that reason, as soon as we reach the maximum number of applications we can receive - which is 80 - we tell the people outside that they can come back another day instead of standing outside for very long.

'Our staff at the embassy work very hard, sometimes until 3pm to 4pm to get all applications in the computer system.

'Every year it is the same story.

'We tell people to come early, maybe May or April to apply for their visas to avoid the rush in the months of June and July.'

Baumgarth said that the situation was likely to improve by next week.

He urged Bahrainis to apply for their visas at least one week before their planned departure.

Other nationalities must apply at least two weeks prior to them leaving the country.

Those hoping to leave in mid to late August can apply in the first week of that month, said Baumgarth.

'We also urge people to make sure they have all the necessary documents needed to issue their visas, otherwise we have no choice but to ask them to come back once they get all the proper papers,' he said.

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