After the blogger Nikita Makarenko raised this issue and criticized the French Embassy and TLScontact visa center, the French side revoked his visa. At the same time, against the background of many objections in the networks, the visa center announced that from July 1, a new system of queuing for short-term visa application to France will be introduced.
Uzbeks are discussing the difficulties of obtaining a Schengen visa to go to France. After protests on the networks, the French embassy and TLScontact visa center issued a statement.
Blogger Nikita Makarenko as writtenit is practically impossible to choose the time to apply for a visa to France, and there are some tricky ways to do it.
“Not to mention, it’s almost impossible for the average person to get a line to apply. Free slots never happen, and you might not catch them even after months of tracking.”
Some people are forced to use the services of “programmers”. They automatically occupy free space in the system with the help of special programs. It costs 150-200 dollars. And I was offered several times to buy the queue directly for $500 through TLSContact. They say that if you pay, you can find a queue even for tomorrow,” Makarenko wrote in his June 24 post.
According to him, he recently managed to submit an application for a French business visa to the TLScontact center, but there he encountered another problem: a regular company (visa center) doing business in Uzbekistan prohibits citizens from using mobile phones there. It’s not about taking photos or videos, it’s about just using the internet or talking on the phone.
TLScontact staff said this restriction was a directive from France. But France, says Makarenko, does not have jurisdiction on the territory of Uzbekistan, and its instructions cannot contradict the legislation of Uzbekistan.
“I answered one call on my phone and did not show my phone to the guard despite his request because it is my legal right. As a result, I was granted a visa with certain restrictions.
The French Republic can easily withdraw this visa from me if it wants to. I don’t need it. Better yet, come to Uzbekistan yourself – we are waiting for you and you will be treated completely differently. We have introduced a visa-free regime for you. And you accuse us of corruption, violation of queues and rights,” the blogger wrote.
A day after he published this post, the French side canceled his visa informed.
In his first post, Nikita Makarenko also addressed organizations responsible for protecting consumer rights and fighting corruption.
“I would really like the Committee for the Development of Competition of Uzbekistan to comprehensively investigate the activities of TLScontact and how well its internal rules comply with the country’s legislation. Also, I would like to ask the organizations that fight against corruption in our country: conduct an audit of the activities of TLScontact. Then many things will become clear,” he said.
After that, a number of other bloggers and many netizens started writing on their pages and comments about various difficulties in obtaining a Schengen visa.
Embassy relationship
The Embassy of France in Uzbekistan has made a statement, stating that it “prioritises” the provision of services to persons who want to apply for a visa. said.
“Any attempt by individuals or companies to profit from this procedure, particularly for financial purposes, is strictly prohibited.
Inspections are conducted regularly. If cases of fraud are detected, sanctions will be applied to the culprits,” the embassy said.
The French Embassy advised Uzbeks not to agree to informal payments during the visa process, to plan their trip to France in advance, and to try again later if there are no free dates for admission.
TLScontact statement
The TLScontact company made a statement on June 26 and announced that starting from July 1, 2026, a new queuing system will be introduced at the visa center in Tashkent for the purpose of submitting applications for short-term visas to France. informed.
“Applicants will no longer be able to choose and reserve an admission date independently. Instead, the admission date will be determined automatically based on the availability of vacancies,” the message reads.
It is noted that the new system will be introduced for tourist visas (less than 90 days). The admission procedure for all other types of visas remains unchanged.
According to information from TLScontact, applicants wishing to obtain a short-term visa should proceed in the following order:
- Registration on the TLScontact site and entering the necessary information for the application.
- Once the application is verified, receive confirmation that it has been received and placed in the queue.
- You will be notified by email when an appointment date is set.
- Confirmation of receipt by paying the service fee is required within 24 hours of receiving the message.
“This procedure is being introduced in order to protect visa recipients from fraudulent and expensive intermediaries, and to provide a fair opportunity for all honest applicants to be admitted,” the company’s official information says.
