A Multiple Entry Spanish Schegen

[BIGJIMMY]

The Mrs was recently granted a multiple entry Spanish Schegen visa, we're heading back to the UK for the yearly visit and always have a trip to the family gaff in Tenerife, on this occasion I thought it would be nice to head to France and also Italy so we applied for the multiple entry and got it.

- Do we have to visit Spain first, would we be turned doen entry in France if we head there first??

- What would happen if we didn't visit Spain at all but headed to France and Italy, would this cause a problem the next time we apply for a Spanish visa?

Thanks in advance peeps.

Mr and Mrs Bigjimmy

[7by7]

A Schengen visa is valid for all Schengen states, regardless of which one issued it.

Officially one should apply to the country one is visiting or, if touring, the country one will enter first.

However, peoples plans do change, and as the visa is valid for all Schengen states I don't see you having any problems.

Probably not necessary, but to be on the safe side in her next application I would include a brief note to say that your plans did change and why.

[VisasPlus]

A lot will depend on your what your plans are. There are many different scenarios. For instance, firstly, what did you ask for when you applied for the visa. If you stated that you intended to spend the whole of your time in Spain, then you may well be asked why you are entering France or Italy. When applying for a Schengen visa you are usually obliged to show your ticket, or a confirmed booking. Believe it or not, there is a purpose for that - the Embassy ( Spain in your case) wants to know what you are going to do and where. In theory, if you showed a booking, and then cashed in your ticket, then the visa is no longer valid. But, as 7x7 says, plans can change, and as long as you have a reasonable explanation, then you should be okay. A different scenario might be, you are in UK and you want to travel to Spain ( to use the Schengen visa issued for that purpose ). You would be entitled, I would imagine, to travel overland to Spain via France as that is a reasonable thing to do. There cannot be a legal obligation to enter Spain direct, either by air or sea from UK ( but see my next paragraph).

7x7 is also correct that a Schengen visa legally entitles you to enter the Schengen area, unless it has been restricted. It is easy to see if it has - on the first printed line it will say someting like ( for Spain ) " ESTADOS SCHENGEN". That means that the visa is valid for all Schengen States. If it says "ESPANA", then it has been restricted to Spain only. If you told the Embassy that you were flying, for instance, to Italy and then on to Spain, it might say " ESPANA + 1 TRANSITO" ( my Spanish isn't very good !). Although the Schengen agreement does, in theory, allow entry throughout Schengen, it doesn't necessarily work like that in practice.

Edited June 27, 2011 by VisasPlus

[BIGJIMMY]

When we applied for the visa we said that we'd be heading to France and Italy as well - hence asking for a multiple visa, that was the plan then, the Mrs showed the tickets when she collected her passport, we'll probably not head to Spain first but rather France then Spain a few weeks after, but not head to Italy on this occasion due to time or the lack of should I say, from the two posts it sounds like it won't be a problem.

The Mrs said that the visa does say multiple on it, I headed off to work before she picked the passport up so I haven't seen the actual words. This is the Mrs's 4th Schegen visa but the first multiple one, all of the others were just a single entry, 3 for Spain and 1 for Portugal.

Just on a different note, as I said this will be the 4th Schegen visa that we've been granted and in ALL of the applications the people at the Embassy's have been rude, arrogant and just not very nice, I actually had to walk out of the Portugese Embassy (he was Portugese) as he was a complete wan@@er and really rude to me, the Mrs went back on her own the next day, is it just us or is that the same in all of them, the peeps at The Spanish Embassy are Thai and their the same!!

Anyway, holidays ahead so good times and bloody cheap wine for a change!!!

Ta ra