In the past 2 years I was granted 10 Schengen Visas from Belgium, Greece, Portugal, Switzerland and France (in December 2018)  In February 2019 I applied for a French Visa in the USA &amp; was denied with the following reason:  "not convinced of your intention to return" to the USA.  The documents &amp; purpose of the trip was the same in December 2018 and February 2019, no difference at all.  First visa was approved and I visited France &amp; returned after 7 days, did not of course overstay my visa.  The second visa was refused!   Anyone experience the same situation?   What was the solution? Should I re-apply?  Apply for another Schengen visa (not France)? Appeal the decision?
16191
Over the course of time here on TSE, I have observed individuals whose pattern of visa applications is best described as ''...     serial refusals - Two or more consecutive visa refusals issued by the same regime to the same person. Commonly for the same, or nearly the same, reasons. In some visa regimes Serial refusals can have a cumulative effect wherein the applicant's credibility is increasingly eroded, especially when the application pattern suggests a secondary agenda.   A common thread appears to be the need to visit the destination country (especially Schengen, the USA, or the UK) with a special sense of urgency. Also common in these cases are the following types of questions...   Should I just reapply once again? What are my chances? What can I do to improve my odds in the future? Can I somehow address the previous refusals to avoid them being a burden on all future applications? How can I break the pattern?      NB: This question is intended as a canonical about serial refusals. I have never been personally denied a visa.
67043
I have six-month multiple-entry business Schengen visa, issued by the French Embassy.  I am planing to go to France for business (or work) in June and then come back home, a non-European country.  In July, I want to go to Spain and Italy for holidays.   Can I use this visa for a holiday only (no business during the trip)?   Do I need to enter Europe first through France?
12132
I am a non-EU national, permanent UK Resident. Recently, my work issued me with a multiple Schengen visa with Norway as the first (main) point of entry. Now I want to go on holidays to Greece - do I need to apply to Schengen visa again, as Greece is not Norway and I am not going there for work?
51625
US passport. I have a long stay visitor visa in France for one year. I never got the OFII stamp/vingette. I know other people who have left France having never gotten OFII and had no problem. The customs people didn't even check their passport, simply opened it and stamped.  Can I avoid any potential problems by traveling by train or car for a short trip to another Schengen country (eg Spain, Netherlands), where I can enter as US citizen, and flying home from there?
113333
I have a South African passport and valid visas' for the UK and Schengen. My trip is to the UK for a week then to Germany for two weeks. I'm staying in Germany for those two weeks and not going to any other Schengen states.  My Schengen visa was issued by German embassy and they have given me a multiple-entry three week visa staring from when I actually arrive in the UK. My UK visa also allows multiple entries.  Now plans have changed and I may need to go to Paris for 3 days while I'm in the UK. (The dates all fall within my allocated Schengen visa dates that I'm allowed to be in Germany so I do not have a date issue.) Is this OK? Will I have trouble with getting into France and then returning to the UK after the three day trip? My problem is that on my Schengen visa application I never said I was going to go France at all?  If its too much of a mission I'd rather not risk it but just thought I'd ask if this was in fact allowed.
4143
My husband is in Switzerland for 6 months with L permit.  I applied for visitor visa.  I submitted all documents with his entrance visa in which date of his coming back to India was not mentioned but later on after submission of visa documents to VFS office, I submitted his L-permit through mail.  But my visa got rejected stating " your intention to leave the territory of the member state before the expiry of visa could not be ascertained".  I also got confused on the answer of extension of my husbands visa permit during answering to the embassy council.  I have only 7 days left to reapply for visa.  I don't know what should I do?  Will I able to get visa again within 7 working  days??
81309
I will go to France from 17/12/13 – 19/12/13, then I will come back to London. And again I will go back to Portugal and Spain from 26/12/13 to 03/01/14 which I will stay in Spain for the longest period. However, the Spanish consulate told me that I have to request for the visa from the French consulate.  The point is: Do I need to apply for a visa for a single trip two times (from French and Spanish consulate) or a single visa for multiple time (from French consulate).
33534
I applied for schengen visa via Norway embassy. I got a single entry visa (even though I asked for multiple entry). Now my plan actually is to land in France (Paris), travel through Belgium to Amsterdam by road and then fly from Amsterdam to Bergen in Norway. I am curious to know whether flying from Amsterdam would be considered as exiting the Schengen state even though I am flying to another Schengen state?   I know it is OK to travel from one Schengen member country to another within the visa tenure and without exiting the Schengen states. I did it before last year by entrying into Austria and traveled through Czech Republic, Germany and then reaching Switzerland (all by road) and then flew back to Dubai where I reside.  But I am really unsure of air travel that how is it taken when you fly from one Schengen state to another?
64285
I will be traveling to France, Italy and Germany with France being my main destination. So I am applying in the French consulate for Schengen visa. I will be traveling on my own and will be staying in hotels.  I had some doubts with regards to filling the application form for Schengen visa.    Q22- Member State(s) of destination: Should I fill in all three of my destinations ? Q31 Surname and first name of the inviting person(s) in the Member State(s). If not applicable, name of the hotel(s) or temporary accommodation(s) in the Member State(s) : This field has barely a line of space to enter. Should I just enter the hotel name in France (my main destination) ?  Q32 Surname and first name of the inviting person(s) in the Member State(s). If not applicable, name of the hotel(s) or temporary accommodation(s) in the Member State(s): Same problem as Q31. Very little space. Should I just enter address of the one hotel I entered in earlier Q ?
79382
What's the quickest Schengen consulate to issue a Visa in London? Basically I want to travel as fast as possible to France, and since any Schengen visa will work, I want to go to the consulate with the shortest processing time.
257
In case, if I get a multiple-entry Schengen visa in one of the embassies in Ukraine, Kyiv - should my first trip be to the country which issued the visa?  Any there any requirements of this sort? Does this condition vary depending on embassy which issued the visa?  What are the possible consequences on not visiting that country first? Does it somehow depend on country where the embassy is (i.e. non-Schengen and not EU members)?
37974
I know that this question has been answered to some degree through other posts, but my question is this:  If my type-D visa to Portugal is valid as of April 16th, 2017, may I enter Portugal or any other Schengen country prior to this date under the terms of the 90-out-of-180 day tourist visa waiver granted to US citizens?  That answer seems to be a relatively straightforward "yes" - anyone disagree?  Specifically, if I were to enter Portugal or another Schengen country before my type-d visa was in effect (let's say March 15th, for example), and got my passport stamped at port of entry as a normal US tourist, how then, come April 16th, would I "activate" the visa?  Would I need to leave the country/Schengen zone and come back in order to have border control see and stamp/activate my visa or would it be assumed, if I was already in the country, that as of April 16th the visa becomes valid and I would have to do nothing?  If I was in a different Schengen country - Spain for example - how would I then register my presence in Portugal as of April 16th since there are no border checks between Schengen countries?    If anyone understands and can explain the mechanics of this, I would be very grateful.  I can understand the legality of coming in advance because I have that privilege anyways in the Schengen zone as a US citizen, but how to then migrate from tourist status to active visa status - do I need to do anything?  Thanks.
52679
My husband has a Chinese passport and I am a U.S. citizen; I don't need a visa to travel to Schengen countries. I am helping him to apply for a visa.  Our plans are to go to Paris, Italy and Spain, but we haven't nailed down definite dates; the approximate dates are August 18 to September 11. We made an appointment with Spain consulate to apply for the visa. We need to show air flight reservations, I could book it online without any problems.    Since we don't have definite dates, what dates should he put down on the application?  I know that, once they approve you, they give you 90 days, so does it matter what dates I put down on the visa application?   Our appointment at the Spanish Consulate is in a few days.
7679
I'm trying to get a Schengen Visa from my first port of entry, France. I am trying to book an appointment with the French Consulate in SF, and the URL I am using is the following:   I've been checking this page periodically for the past few weeks, and I always see a dialog that that says "We are currently at full capacity. Please try again later." Their calendar provides no direct option for going to the next month. (Using the in-browser developer tools, I noticed that the button for next month is hidden. Un-hiding it and clicking on the Next Month button displays no available appointments either. I checked all the way until September 2016).  My guess is that there are absolutely no appointments for the next 6 months. Or, more likely, their page isn't functioning properly. I'll be traveling in July. Does anybody have any alternate suggestions to book an appointment?
70026
Lets say I have France Schengen visa (multiple entries short stay of total 90 days in 6 months). I understand that my first ever visit to Schengen zone has to be France as the main destination. My question is : If I happen to make subsequent visits to Schengen area (while my visa is still valid with regards to dates and total duration)  - is it required on every visit (second, third, etc.) that France be my main destination for the visit?  PS: I know that I can enter any Schengen country for my visit - but I am specifically asking if I can totally avoid visiting the issuing country on my subsequent visits? Will doing so be used against me if I apply for visa in future?
19250
I'm planning to go to Germany on Sept 6-8, then Netherlands on Sept 8-11 and exit Switzerland on Sept 11-14.  My question is:  Which embassy do I need to apply for the Schengen visa? The number of days are the same for Netherlands and Switzerland, but I'm planning to apply in Netherlands since it will be my second point of entry.
3670
My daughter applied at the Italian Consulate in Philadelphia, and they gave her two entries for 20 days (we thought it was for 20 days each entry). She was in Italy 12 days, then went to England for 1 week and flew to Venice to take a 10-day cruise. She couldn't make it because they said she has only 8 remaining days, but she still has a land tour already paid this week.  What can she do? Can she extend the Schengen visa for 12 more days? Right now, she is in Madrid, but next week she has to fly from Barcelona to Paris to start with the tour. What would happen if she decides to take the tour with the expired visa? She is a US permanent resident.