Help - getting a Visa

hoyin

My girlfriend needs a visa to go to all places in Europe which is really annoying.

I am planning to take her to Venice and also Amsterdam.

Amsterdam is first .. and I have just found out from the Dutch Embassy that I have to ring to make an appointment and need to ring them on 09065 540 707 (calls are charged at £1 a minute!!!)

£1 !!!!!!!!

Apparently you spend about £7 and we need to do this quite a lot!

Anyone know a direct number or a way I can minimise this extra cost?

vanoonoo

you should be able to get most of the info from the relevant websites for each embassy.

out of interest what is the country of origin for the passport your girlfriend will be travelling under? she may be entitled to a schengen visa which covers a number of countries

http://www2.essex.ac.uk/stdsup/intstuds/visiteurope.shtm

the link gives some very general advice which I havent checked but seems impartial and has a number of links to the relevant embassy sites

hoyin

She is from Taiwan, so yes she can get a schengen visa.

Unfortunately currently when they give out visas they only give them for the time you are staying in a country. i.e. if you are staying only 4 days they give you a visa for 4 days.

However to be honest I am not too bothered about that!

What I am bothered about is that I have to ring 09065 540 720 to book an appointment which will cost me £1 a minute.

What i want to know is if there is a way around this? like the saynoto0870 website. Is there something similar for this?

soolin

The poster erickCvice has been reported to abuse. Please ignore his posts.

Christal_2

As someone who also needs a visa to go to Schengen country, I can tell you NO, there is no way around, you just have to ring that no and make an appointment. This is how they make money.

Voyager2002

Christal wrote:

As someone who also needs a visa to go to Schengen country, I can tell you NO, there is no way around, you just have to ring that no and make an appointment. This is how they make money.

No, there is a solution. Consider a different route (eg travelling by Eurostar) so that you enter Belgium before Holland or Italy. Belgium has the same system with a premium-rate phone number BUT if you check their website carefully you will find a way to make your appointment on-line.

I think that some other Schengen countries also allow you to make your appointment over the 'net, so choose wisely. Remember that she will only need one visa from a Schengen country, and the visa must be from EITHER the first Schengen country she enters or the Schengen country in which she spends most time (so if you take an extra day in Venice she could get an Italian visa instead).

Incidentally, she can visit Switzerland without a visa, provided that her UK visa was issued for more than six months.

Christal_2

I agree with the above poster, but as you said she will have to change the first country she visits to enable her to get a visa from Belgium embassy.

If she can change the travel method or even countries she want to visit, spain is a good choice, as they only ask you to post them a letter as visa application, then they will post you back with the appointment date and visa form, go for the appointment and they hardly ask any questions, it saves you the money for dialing the premium rate no.

pennylane99

Please note....The original post in this thread is from 2005...A spammer (who has since been banned) has been reviving old threads from years ago...