Schengen Visa Applications In The Uk

[sgunn65]

I did not realise how tough it can be getting a Schengen visa in the UK. You have to get an appointment first of all. That entails a £1 a minute phone call to find out that, in the summer at least, you have to wait maybe 6 weeks for an interview.

Some countries want bank statements, letters from employers, proof of accomodation, plane tickets etc.

However if you live in the north, scotland or wales you can apply for a french visa by post. All you need to send them are both your passports, your marriage cert and translation, your application and 2 photos. In the application write the name of an hotel in France and send it in. If you are an EU citizen and the visa is for your wife they waive the 60 euro fee as well

I live in London but sent the application with my daughters welsh address and the visa was returned stamped to the end of the year (5 months even though it was a 90 day multiple entry) within 4 days!!!! Even though they quoted 6 weeks. That is what I call a result.

Now we can travel to 15 countries and don't have to go to France first. Happy travels!!!

I hope this helps some of you.

[AZZZEY68]

Thats correct you dont have to do France first or at all they are not bothered as long as you have one.

[all4one]

Where to send the application? Why do you have to be based in the North? If my G/f is on UK tourist visa would his make a difference ?

[the scouser]

If my G/f is on UK tourist visa would his make a difference ?

Unfortunately, it may well do so. As a general rule your g/f would be expected to apply for her Schengen visa in her country of normal residence, presumably Thailand. However, by all means contact the French and see if they'll overlook this in the circumstances.

Scouse.

[sgunn65]

To find out the areas you can send postal applications from have a look on the French Embassy website under visa's then click postal applications. It covers a lot of the north, wales and scotland.

[Arkady]

I recently went to Greece and France with my Thai g/f and I have to say that the Greek Embassy in Bkk was extremely helpful in issuing the Schengen visa. Very few Thais apply to the Greek Embassy and they have the time to give a very good service. I provided all the right documents (or most of them anyway) including bank statements for her and myself and employer's letter and the Thai staff member went through the application with me on the spot and gave a verbal approval immediately without my g/f being present and a couple of minor docs like the photocopy of her passport missing. He wanted to ask her some questions but said it didn't matter, if she was not there - probably because she has had a Schengen visa before as well as US and UK visas. Of course you have to have documentary proof of hotel bookings and flights for your entire stay in Schengen countries which is a paid but, if you are not sure where you are staying for each night, it is easy to book a hotel on the Internet for the entire stay in each country and then cancel nights you don't need later - just make sure there is no cancelation penalty first. I would also recommend doing this, even if you are staying with friends and relatives because you otherwise need to get a notarised letter from your host. I played this by the book once for an application at the Spanish Embassy in Bkk and, apart from being very troublesome for my host and wasting time, the notarised letter cost me 200 euros for five minutes work from the Spanish notary. Anyway it is a completely pointless requirement, peculiar to Schengen visas, that is fortunately easy to work around. By the way, the expat staff in the visa section at the Spanish Embassy are,in contrast to the Greek Embassy, complete dolts just wasting their taxpayers' money being here. They insist on making an appointment that can take up to two weeks and when my g/f went for hers they just asked her a couple of trivial questions that were already answered on the application form - twiddling their thumbs until it was time for another evening on the Pong probably. The Greek immigration officer at Athens airport was even funnier. His only question was, "Are you a Buddhist?". So much for tightened security these days or would he have detained her, had she said she was a Muslim?

[sgunn65]

I recently went to Greece and France with my Thai g/f and I have to say that the Greek Embassy in Bkk was extremely helpful in issuing the Schengen visa. Very few Thais apply to the Greek Embassy and they have the time to give a very good service. I provided all the right documents (or most of them anyway) including bank statements for her and myself and employer's letter and the Thai staff member went through the application with me on the spot and gave a verbal approval immediately without my g/f being present and a couple of minor docs like the photocopy of her passport missing. He wanted to ask her some questions but said it didn't matter, if she was not there - probably because she has had a Schengen visa before as well as US and UK visas. Of course you have to have documentary proof of hotel bookings and flights for your entire stay in Schengen countries which is a paid but, if you are not sure where you are staying for each night, it is easy to book a hotel on the Internet for the entire stay in each country and then cancel nights you don't need later - just make sure there is no cancelation penalty first. I would also recommend doing this, even if you are staying with friends and relatives because you otherwise need to get a notarised letter from your host. I played this by the book once for an application at the Spanish Embassy in Bkk and, apart from being very troublesome for my host and wasting time, the notarised letter cost me 200 euros for five minutes work from the Spanish notary. Anyway it is a completely pointless requirement, peculiar to Schengen visas, that is fortunately easy to work around. By the way, the expat staff in the visa section at the Spanish Embassy are,in contrast to the Greek Embassy, complete dolts just wasting their taxpayers' money being here. They insist on making an appointment that can take up to two weeks and when my g/f went for hers they just asked her a couple of trivial questions that were already answered on the application form - twiddling their thumbs until it was time for another evening on the Pong probably. The Greek immigration officer at Athens airport was even funnier. His only question was, "Are you a Buddhist?". So much for tightened security these days or would he have detained her, had she said she was a Muslim?

It maybe the case that you have to prove accomodation to the Spanish Embassy but it is not true that you have to show booked accomodation for the whole of your stay in Schengen countries if you go through the French Embassy. I put down that the first night we would stay in a hotel that I picked at random from the internet. I had not booked it. The French Embassy in the UK require only a marriage cert with translation, the app with 2 photos (one of which they returned!!) and both your passports. This is presuming you are a married couple one of whom is a EU citizen. Other embassies are much stricter which is why I posted this info in the first place.

Happy hunting

[deminister]

If my G/f is on UK tourist visa would his make a difference ?

Unfortunately, it may well do so. As a general rule your g/f would be expected to apply for her Schengen visa in her country of normal residence, presumably Thailand. However, by all means contact the French and see if they'll overlook this in the circumstances.

Scouse.

Actually it should be very easy to get an Schengen visa when you are on e genuine British visa, the procedure is actually the same and they are using the same system to register applicants that were refused. You do not need to be in your country of origin to apply. the problem is that some countries are plagued by nationalists demanding an stop on immigration, what they actually like to say is that they want to stop immigrants from North Africa and as we all know we all have to suffer to avoid accusations of discrimination.