Shengen Visa

[PattayaParent]

Planning a trip to EU and am wondering whIch Embassy is easiest to apply at for the Shengen visa?

We can arrive any country although France and Italy would be preferred but definitely not the Scandanavian countries.

Also, do you have to arrive in the country that issued the visa or will any country allow you to enter?

Thanks

[theoldgit]

You should actually apply for your visa at the country which is your main destination, if you are touring, or have no main destination, then you should apply for your visa at the country were you are entering the Schengen Area.

Those are the rules and most, if not all, Schengen Consulates refer to them on their websites but I don't know if the rules are strictly applied.

I have always found the French Consulate pretty easy to deal with.

[7by7]

I have heard, though I must stress not from any official source, that if arriving in the Schengen Area in a country other than the one which issued the visa that you may be asked for some form of evidence that you are merely passing through that country and your main destination is indeed the country which issued the visa.

Don't know how true that is; but best, IMHO, to apply as per the rules.

[PattayaParent]

Yes guys, intending to spend a month moving around so no main destination, that's why it doesn't matter which country is the first to arrive in.

So any other experience on applying in other coutries beside France?

Spain? Germany? Holland? Poland? Hungary? Greece? Italy?

Edited October 19, 2011 by PattayaParent

[ThaiVisaExpress]

I have submitted an application at the Spanish Embassy recently & the applicant had been issued with 3 previous UK Visit visas & met all the criteria yet she still got refused. The reason they gave was pathetic to be honest but I have added some of the recent schengen visas applications we have processed below.

Recently we have applied at :

• French
• Swedish
• Netherlands
• Italian

All the visas issued.

Edited October 19, 2011 by ThaiVisaExpress

[7by7]

Where are you now?

If UK resident and so applying in the UK, then it will be a lot easier than for a Thai applying in Thailand.

Also, what is your nationality? If you are an EU national and your traveling companion is your spouse or other family member then most of the questions and requirements wont apply.

[andyandythai]

If you are in the UK and the person wanting the visa is married to a EU Citizen then the German Embassy allows you to send it through then post and its free and take about 3 days to get it back.Many other Embassies ask you to apply in person.

My wife has had 2 now, we entered through France to Germany and then went to Amsterdam on the ferry and no questions asked at all. We did visit Germany on the first trip but not the second and as we didn't arrive directly into Germany she has no German stamps in the passport. The rules do say that if you are seen to get a visa from the German Embassy and not visit that country then you may be refused another Visa in the future. We have just applied for another Visa through the German Embassy and that one has been granted no problems.

The website is http://www.london.diplo.de/Vertretung/london/en/07/Visa/Schengen__visas__seite.html

Andy

[malct]

I sent a letter to the Spanish Embassy and got a reply saying that i had to book an appointment. see letter below

Can you tell me if its possible to apply for a Schengen Visa for Spain via online application or by Post.I am planning on taking my wife who is now living in the UK on a settlement visa to Spain to see your beautiful country from the 10th December until 21st December 2011.

My wife is from Thailand and i understand that she needs a Schengen Visa.

I live in Cumbria and getting down to London will be quite a Journey

Dear Sir/ Madam,

Please request an appointment by post, providing copies of both your passports and copy of marriage certificate.

We will then send you a confirmation letter of appointment by post.

Kind regards,

Visa Department

Interesting to hear thaivisaexpress Comments saying that he has applied for 3 Visa's and all refused. I would not like to go down to london just to be refused a Shengen visa.

after 4 years going to Thailand, I could do with a week in Spain ;-)

Edited October 20, 2011 by malct

[ThaiVisaExpress]

I sent a letter to the Spanish Embassy and got a reply saying that i had to book an appointment. see letter below

Can you tell me if its possible to apply for a Schengen Visa for Spain via online application or by Post.I am planning on taking my wife who is now living in the UK on a settlement visa to Spain to see your beautiful country from the 10th December until 21st December 2011.

My wife is from Thailand and i understand that she needs a Schengen Visa.

I live in Cumbria and getting down to London will be quite a Journey

Dear Sir/ Madam,

Please request an appointment by post, providing copies of both your passports and copy of marriage certificate.

We will then send you a confirmation letter of appointment by post.

Kind regards,

Visa Department

Interesting to hear thaivisaexpress Comments saying that he has applied for 3 Visa's and all refused. I would not like to go down to london just to be refused a Shengen visa.

after 4 years going to Thailand, I could do with a week in Spain ;-)

I cannot see anywhere in my post that says we had 3 visas refused ?????????????

It actually says we had a client who had 3 previous UK Visas issued ?

Ensure you take care when filling in forms

Read the post again

However in your case as you are married you apply in the UK as she is on a settlement visa its very straight forward.

Edited October 21, 2011 by 7by7
Quote tags fixed

[bobrussell]

If you are planning to travel to several countries and the order is unimportant select a country that allows postal applications. It is a real pain for us because we are in Hampshire and to go to France my wife would have to apply in person. If we lived across the border in Dorset it could be done by post!

For the sake of a few miles we have to travel to London, waste several hours waiting then travel back. The alternative - fill in a form, collect evidence, stick a stamp onto the envelope and post it!

A big difference depending on where you are and the policy of the individual Embassy.

[malct]

Sorry about not reading your post right, That's what happens when your reading stuff after a 13 hour shift

Malc

I sent a letter to the Spanish Embassy and got a reply saying that i had to book an appointment. see letter below

Can you tell me if its possible to apply for a Schengen Visa for Spain via online application or by Post.I am planning on taking my wife who is now living in the UK on a settlement visa to Spain to see your beautiful country from the 10th December until 21st December 2011.

My wife is from Thailand and i understand that she needs a Schengen Visa.

I live in Cumbria and getting down to London will be quite a Journey

Dear Sir/ Madam,

Please request an appointment by post, providing copies of both your passports and copy of marriage certificate.

We will then send you a confirmation letter of appointment by post.

Kind regards,

Visa Department

Interesting to hear thaivisaexpress Comments saying that he has applied for 3 Visa's and all refused. I would not like to go down to london just to be refused a Shengen visa.

after 4 years going to Thailand, I could do with a week in Spain ;-)

I cannot see anywhere in my post that says we had 3 visas refused ?????????????

It actually says we had a client who had 3 previous UK Visas issued ?

Ensure you take care when filling in forms

Read the post again

However in your case as you are married you apply in the UK as she is on a settlement visa its very straight forward.

[PattayaParent]

Thanks everyone.

I'm a UK passport holder and will be travelling with the missus who has 3 previous UK visas.

We'll be applying in Bangkok so France / Italy / Holland look favourite depending on which flight is the cheapest.

[uncleRoy]

Basically the Shengen rules are that you must enter the EU through the country that issued the Shengen Visa. Although there are some occasions where the individual countries have been allowed entry for transit reasons, but this is not a given and entry can be refused. The main reason for this rule, is that the country that issued the visa is supposed to have done all the checks regarding any criminal records or other non qualifying reason for refusal and so guarantees the suitability of the applicant.

[ThaiVisaExpress]

Thanks everyone.

I'm a UK passport holder and will be travelling with the missus who has 3 previous UK visas.

We'll be applying in Bangkok so France / Italy / Holland look favourite depending on which flight is the cheapest.

3 day turn around recently with the Netherlands for one client.

[Arkady]

Basically the Shengen rules are that you must enter the EU through the country that issued the Shengen Visa. Although there are some occasions where the individual countries have been allowed entry for transit reasons, but this is not a given and entry can be refused. The main reason for this rule, is that the country that issued the visa is supposed to have done all the checks regarding any criminal records or other non qualifying reason for refusal and so guarantees the suitability of the applicant.

This is completely untrue. The rules state categorically that you must apply for a Schengen visa from the embassy of the country where you plan to spend the majority of the days of your trip to Schengenland. In fact the first port of call is utterly irrelevant in this respect. A few years ago I took my wife (before we were married) to the Norwegian Embassy in Bangkok under the same misapprehension. Her itinerary showed that we would spend the greatest number of days in Italy and the embassy was unable to grant a visa. Since our travel date was fast approaching and we had heard the Italian Embassy had a long queue just to make an appointment and the Norwegians were still operating a walk-in service, we appealed to a supervisor. She came out and explained politely that they were not allowed to process the visa under the Schengen rules, if the itinerary showed one more day in Italy than Norway.

On to part 2 which is more supportive of your comment. In fact we changed the itinerary with bookings to support the change, so that we were spending a day more in Norway and the embassy processed the application the following day without a hitch. On arrival in Oslo the immigration officer brought up the itinerary we had submitted in Bangkok on her screen in seconds and quizzed my wife and then myself about it in a very polite and friendly way and we were quickly allowed in. Thus it is clear that some countries are efficient about collecting the application data and passing it on to their immigration services for verification at the border. I can't say if this could also work, if your visa was not issued by your first port of call country or if all countries do this. Over several Schengen trips with my wife, Norway was the only country where the immigration officer had these details. Indeed it is the only country where the immigration officer asked any questions at all. Most seem happy with the visa and stamp it with hardly a glance.

There are very significant differences in applications from those with EU family members and those without. I have helped my wife apply before and after we registered our marriage. An applicant travelling with or joining an EU spouse cannot be asked to submit an itinerary with the application form, although they can be quizzed about it at interview. Similarly they don't have to provide information on the application form about their employment or assets but can be quizzed about them. They are not allowed to be made to queue unreasonably for appointments, online or physically and finally they can't be charged an application fee but some embassies charge a "service fee" in flagrant violation of Schengen rules.

As far as which embassy in Bangkok is easiest, I think it is fair to say that it is easiest and quickest to apply to the embassies of smaller countries that get less visitors. In my experience Norway and Greece were both very quick and very pleasant and I have heard that Portugal is the same. The German embassy in Bangkok employs the most obnoxious Thai staff I have encountered and they deliberately try to ignore some of the rights of EU family members which you have to forcefully point out to them to make them desist. The Spanish were OK but had so many applicants they made people queue up sitting on the floor in the corridor outside and my wife's Spanish interviewer asked such ridiculous questions that it was obvious he treated the job as a joke and his posting as a nice holiday at taxpayer expense. However, my experience with the Spanish was some time ago and I note Thai Visa Express' more recent negative experience with them mentioned above. For those without EU family members the French, German and Italian embassies have long online queues for appointments just to submit documents at peak times in the year, as they obviously receive the most visitors.

Some tips here for those without EU family members who need to submit itineraries. If you are going to stay at a private home, Schengen rules require a letter of invitation notarised by an EU notary. Therefore it is much cheaper and easier to book a hotel. Since online reservations for flights and hotels are accepted as proof of itinerary, there is a certain amount of flexibility to make changes to your itinerary after obtaining the visa but be aware that the rules require you to cancel your visa and reapply, if you make a major change, e.g. change the country where you will spend the greatest number of days. Be prepared to be quizzed about the itinerary submitted with your application at immigration and have copies of the reservations with you.

Edited October 23, 2011 by Arkady

[eagleflyinghigh]

There are very significant differences in applications from those with EU family members and those without. I have helped my wife apply before and after we registered our marriage. An applicant travelling with or joining an EU spouse cannot be asked to submit an itinerary with the application form, although they can be quizzed about it at interview. Similarly they don't have to provide information on the application form about their employment or assets but can be quizzed about them. They are not allowed to be made to queue unreasonably for appointments, online or physically and finally they can't be charged an application fee but some embassies charge a "service fee" in flagrant violation of Schengen rules.

May I complement your excellent post with four important points from the Schengen Visa Codex:

1. Getting a Schengen Visa for an EU family member is a legal right under European Law and can not be refused except for public security, national interest and public health reasons.

2. The applicant should refuse to answer any questions asked by uninformed consular staff. As you mention Thai staff can be obnoxious sometimes. The itinerary and work/financial ciircumstances of such an applicant are irrelevant.

3. The EU family member can use the EU citizens control channel at Immigration and no questions can be asked and should be refused answering anyway. No admittance would be a violaton of European Law (except for the three points stated in 1.).

4. If you use an internediary to the Consulate you may be charged a fee indeed. But Consulates have to offer the possibility to apply directly.

Carrying the marriage / registered partnership certificate with you always helps.......

The basic idea of the European Law is to offer European citizens freedom of movement and this would of course not be the case if your legal spouse could not travel with you or join you.

[GamLing]

You should actually apply for your visa at the country which is your main destination, if you are touring, or have no main destination, then you should apply for your visa at the country were you are entering the Schengen Area.

Those are the rules and most, if not all, Schengen Consulates refer to them on their websites but I don't know if the rules are strictly applied.

I have always found the French Consulate pretty easy to deal with.

In 2000, my wife and I went to Europe. I am from the UK and she is Thai. We planned to visit some friends in Germany first for a couple of weeks and then travel to the UK for my daughter's wedding. (MY wife had obtained a UK Visa already). We went to the German Embassy in South Sathorn Road and we were dismayed to see that the queue was at least 200 metres long!!! An elderly Thai woman next to us in the queue suggested that we go to the French Embassy, almost next door. So we did, and my Thai wife was granted a Shengen Visa with no delay. The French Embassy was almost deserted.

We flew direct o Frankfurt and entered Germany without a hitch. We never went to France.

[theoldgit]

You were clearly fortunate but a lot has happened in the 11 years since that visa was granted, as you will have seen when reading this thread.

I was commenting on the current regulations, which are on most Consulate's websites. Most, if not all, require evidence of travel and accomodation arrangements, if you now pitched up at the French Visa Application Centre with evidence of a proposed trip to Germany, I suspect they wouldn't issue a visa.

You of course would apply for a family permit.

[shiatsuman]

Yes guys, intending to spend a month moving around so no main destination, that's why it doesn't matter which country is the first to arrive in.

So any other experience on applying in other coutries beside France?

Spain? Germany? Holland? Poland? Hungary? Greece? Italy?

we got a visa for Spain but it was very unpleasant dealing with the Spanish Consulate in BKK.

Our flight was diverted to Geneva, so that was the entry point. no problems at all as we had been issued with another ticket for Madrid.

Suggest that if you do not enter the Schengen at the country that issued the visa that you have an onward ticket .

[Arkady]

You were clearly fortunate but a lot has happened in the 11 years since that visa was granted, as you will have seen when reading this thread.

I was commenting on the current regulations, which are on most Consulate's websites. Most, if not all, require evidence of travel and accomodation arrangements, if you now pitched up at the French Visa Application Centre with evidence of a proposed trip to Germany, I suspect they wouldn't issue a visa.

You of course would apply for a family permit.

He said he was British and therefore his wife would not need to submit an itinerary or evidence of any reservations at the French Embassy even today.

[Arkady]

You should actually apply for your visa at the country which is your main destination, if you are touring, or have no main destination, then you should apply for your visa at the country were you are entering the Schengen Area.

Those are the rules and most, if not all, Schengen Consulates refer to them on their websites but I don't know if the rules are strictly applied.

I have always found the French Consulate pretty easy to deal with.

In 2000, my wife and I went to Europe. I am from the UK and she is Thai. We planned to visit some friends in Germany first for a couple of weeks and then travel to the UK for my daughter's wedding. (MY wife had obtained a UK Visa already). We went to the German Embassy in South Sathorn Road and we were dismayed to see that the queue was at least 200 metres long!!! An elderly Thai woman next to us in the queue suggested that we go to the French Embassy, almost next door. So we did, and my Thai wife was granted a Shengen Visa with no delay. The French Embassy was almost deserted.

We flew direct o Frankfurt and entered Germany without a hitch. We never went to France.

Since EU family members' applications have to processed without delay under Schengen rules, they are actually not allowed to make them wait in a queue, except in the unlikely event that those in the queue are also EU family members. Today the queue is online and you have to make an appointment via the German Embassy website in order to go in and submit your application and documents for consideration. However, EU family members are allowed to walk in to the German Embassy without an apppointment and there is a counter assigned for them.

[Arkady]

There are very significant differences in applications from those with EU family members and those without. I have helped my wife apply before and after we registered our marriage. An applicant travelling with or joining an EU spouse cannot be asked to submit an itinerary with the application form, although they can be quizzed about it at interview. Similarly they don't have to provide information on the application form about their employment or assets but can be quizzed about them. They are not allowed to be made to queue unreasonably for appointments, online or physically and finally they can't be charged an application fee but some embassies charge a "service fee" in flagrant violation of Schengen rules.

May I complement your excellent post with four important points from the Schengen Visa Codex:

1. Getting a Schengen Visa for an EU family member is a legal right under European Law and can not be refused except for public security, national interest and public health reasons.

2. The applicant should refuse to answer any questions asked by uninformed consular staff. As you mention Thai staff can be obnoxious sometimes. The itinerary and work/financial ciircumstances of such an applicant are irrelevant.

3. The EU family member can use the EU citizens control channel at Immigration and no questions can be asked and should be refused answering anyway. No admittance would be a violaton of European Law (except for the three points stated in 1.).

4. If you use an internediary to the Consulate you may be charged a fee indeed. But Consulates have to offer the possibility to apply directly.

Carrying the marriage / registered partnership certificate with you always helps.......

The basic idea of the European Law is to offer European citizens freedom of movement and this would of course not be the case if your legal spouse could not travel with you or join you.

Thanks for the compliment and the useful addition to my post.

When I took my wife to the German Embassy in Bangkok the nasty Thai female staffer tried to deny her her right to freedom of movement at every step of the way and was very rude into the bargain. After scolding her for arriving late (30 minutes before closing time!), she at first tried to make her fill the sections of the form to do with accommodation and employment which are asterixed to indicate that EU family members should not fill them in. Fortunately I was called in to answer the question about accommodation as my wife didn't know where we were staying and I told her point blank she was not entitled to request that information. She stiffened and claimed she was but, when I insisted, she scuttled off to talk to the supervisor who obviously put her right. However, to save her own face she demanded my wife provide an employment letter when collecting the visa (without having to fill in the employment section of the form) and my wife agreed to this before I could jump in again. Her final parting shot was an pathetic attempt to demand a visa fee which I shot down. On picking up the visa my wife was again put through the same routine of "why have you come late?" because she came 10 minutes before they closed for picking up visas. She just replied that they were still open and it only takes a minute to hand over the visa, so what's the problem?

Several other people have complained about the horrible Thai staff in the German Embassy visa section. I am sure the Germans must train these people in the Schengen rules that they are supposed to apply and it seemed to me that the woman we dealt with knew them and was deliberately trying to deny my wife her rights out of some perverted sense of sadism or jealousy. She met her match on that occasion but no doubt she normally has a field day tormenting Thai wives of EU nationals who don't know their rights or are afraid to speak out. I have no idea how the German diplomats can tolerate such disgraceful behaviour and deliberate violation of the Schengen rules by their Thai staff. We didn't see a single German looking face in the place and I can only assume that they either couldn't care less what their Thai staff do or even support the systematic racism and abuse meted out in the name of the Fatherland. The end result is that we and many others will never apply to the German embassy again and perhaps it is the Germans' intention to drive the free visa business to other Schengenland embassies.

Edited October 23, 2011 by Arkady

[diz]

My wife got a 1 year / multiple entry Schengen visa from the Slovenian embassy.

The customs officer at the first immigration border in Germany was so confused about it that he had to ask his colleague.

[phomthai]

We used French Embassy, appointment booked online, no problems all done in a week

Didn't actually get to France but went to Portugal to see a friend. My Thai girlfriend was through Lisbon passport control in 10 seconds & no questions while I was kept waiting with the guy looking through every page of my UK passport, talking to his colleague etc....the girlfriend had to wait for me!

We have a Spanish friend who got his Thai wife a Schengen visa to visit him in Spain. They own a business in BKK and he's pretty wealthy, works in Spain & visits the wife every other month or so but they were only given a 1 month visa...

[nahkit]

My wife also had a bad experience applying for a Schengen visa at the German embassy in Libya. Like a previous poster, they insisted on her filling out sections of the application which were clearly marked as being not applicable to EU family members, even though I showed them my UK passport and our marriage certificate. They made her come back four times, each time requesting additional information, and, because we were visiting her niece, they insisted that the niece get a clearence paper from her local police station which we then had to courier out to Libya.

They wouldn't let me into the embassy with her each time we visited, so finally I phoned them to complain about the treatment my wife was receiving. About ten minutes after I called, my received a call at home to say her visa was approved.

This was the second time my wife had visited her niece in Germany, the first time she went there she entered via Holland. The Dutch embassy were much easier to deal with and the only additional information they asked for was an email from our daughter who was studying in Holland, confirming that her mother would be staying with her.

[Arkady]

My wife usually gets far more questions entering the UK than Schengen countries. Last time we flew into Bristol and they seemed rather excited to see a more exotic passport and we were well quizzed and both passports were scrutinized in detail. By the time we got to baggage reclaim our two suitcases were touring around in a completely empty hall. The questioning was, however, all very polite and easy to deal with and at the end the supervisor apologized for the time taken, saying that the officer was still under training. I don't mind, if they are nice like that.

In Moscow, they stamped my passport and forced me to go through to baggage hall and and kept my wife back firing questions at her in Russian which she couldn't understand. They seemed unhappy that she didn't have a visa which is unnecessary for Thais under the bilateral agreement. Anyway after they had had their fun with her and without getting answers to any of their questions or trying to speak English, they laughed amongst themselves, stamped her passport and let her through. Scary.