Travellers planning business or leisure visits to Greece must now apply directly at Greek embassies or consulates after Global Visa Center World (GVCW) closed all 15 of its Visa Application Centres (VACs) on the mainland. The operator announced in a late-December circular that the facilities would cease accepting Schengen-visa submissions from 1 January 2026.
Applicants in Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Jinan, Shenyang and Xi’an must now email the Greek Embassy in Beijing for appointments, while those in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing and Wuhan are redirected to the Consulate-General in Shanghai. Guangzhou, Changsha, Fuzhou, Kunming and Shenzhen residents must apply via the consulate in Guangzhou.
The sudden change lengthens lead-times. Consular sections typically handle only a fraction of the volume processed by third-party centres and often have limited appointment slots. Greek authorities say they are exploring ways to add pop-up intake days in major cities if backlogs grow, but no timetable has been given.
![Greek Visa Application Centres shut down across China as of 1 January 2026]()
For applicants seeking extra guidance, VisaHQ’s China platform (https://www.visahq.com/china/) can streamline the paperwork by providing real-time document checklists, translation assistance and deadline alerts tailored to Greek Schengen requirements, reducing the risk of errors before the actual consular appointment.
For China-headquartered tour operators and MICE agencies, the closure complicates group-visa logistics ahead of the Mediterranean cruise season. Corporate travel managers with staff transiting the EU via Athens or Thessaloniki should book slots as early as possible and prepare for courier submissions of supplementary documents.
The development also raises questions about the viability of third-party visa-centre models in China after traffic disruptions and cost-cutting measures introduced during the pandemic. Other Schengen countries are reportedly reviewing their outsourcing contracts, suggesting further consolidation could follow.
Applicants in Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Jinan, Shenyang and Xi’an must now email the Greek Embassy in Beijing for appointments, while those in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing and Wuhan are redirected to the Consulate-General in Shanghai. Guangzhou, Changsha, Fuzhou, Kunming and Shenzhen residents must apply via the consulate in Guangzhou.
The sudden change lengthens lead-times. Consular sections typically handle only a fraction of the volume processed by third-party centres and often have limited appointment slots. Greek authorities say they are exploring ways to add pop-up intake days in major cities if backlogs grow, but no timetable has been given.
For applicants seeking extra guidance, VisaHQ’s China platform (https://www.visahq.com/china/) can streamline the paperwork by providing real-time document checklists, translation assistance and deadline alerts tailored to Greek Schengen requirements, reducing the risk of errors before the actual consular appointment.
For China-headquartered tour operators and MICE agencies, the closure complicates group-visa logistics ahead of the Mediterranean cruise season. Corporate travel managers with staff transiting the EU via Athens or Thessaloniki should book slots as early as possible and prepare for courier submissions of supplementary documents.
The development also raises questions about the viability of third-party visa-centre models in China after traffic disruptions and cost-cutting measures introduced during the pandemic. Other Schengen countries are reportedly reviewing their outsourcing contracts, suggesting further consolidation could follow.
