Schengen visa from uk (Indian passport married to UK citizen)

Retirebefore50

So my friend has booked her holiday to Spain leaving on the 1st April. However, there are no appointments online on the BLS visa website. She needs to have a Schengen visa due to her Indian passport.

Any tips?. Can she apply any other way?. They seem to offer at home visits but no one has emailed back and their phone number are of no help. Can she apply on arrival or must it be this way?

She had to book first as you can't book an appointment or see them without first filling in the application on their site. 

Any comments welcome. 

Voyager2002

Some agencies have or can get appointments even when none seem to be available: she could use Google to find visa agents and ring around to see if anyone promises to help. (There has been some discussion of this on the forum at ImmigrationBoards.com).

She could also check the embassies of other Schengen countries to see if any appointments are available: a valid visa for any Schengen country would get her into Spain. Strictly speaking she should only get a visa from a country that she plans to visit: perhaps her planned holiday might be divided between Spain and Southern France so she could get a visa for France? Note, however, that if she gets a visa for a Schengen country but then does not visit that country at all she would be recorded as abusing the system and so might have problems getting another Schengen visa later.

And no, she cannot apply on arrival. 

Retirebefore50

@Voyager2002 thanks, I've passed on to her. I think she has now found an agent who can get a magical appt...for a fat fee. Lesson learned for her I think. Appreciate the reply. 

DullGreyGuy

Voyager2002 said:
Strictly speaking she should only get a visa from a country that she plans to visit: perhaps her planned holiday might be divided between Spain and Southern France so she could get a visa for France? Note, however, that if she gets a visa for a Schengen country but then does not visit that country at all she would be recorded as abusing the system and so might have problems getting another Schengen visa later.

You are supposed to get it from the country you are visiting first, not just any on the list that you are planning to visit. Again, not sure how heavily this is policed 

Voyager2002

DullGreyGuy said:

Voyager2002 said:
Strictly speaking she should only get a visa from a country that she plans to visit: perhaps her planned holiday might be divided between Spain and Southern France so she could get a visa for France? Note, however, that if she gets a visa for a Schengen country but then does not visit that country at all she would be recorded as abusing the system and so might have problems getting another Schengen visa later.

You are supposed to get it from the country you are visiting first, not just any on the list that you are planning to visit. Again, not sure how heavily this is policed 

You are supposed to get it from the country which is your main destination which may not be the country where you arrive. Enforcement is fairly lax since the definition of "main" is fairly vague. In practice you need to show hotel bookings when you apply for the visa and are only given a visa for the number of days for which you have hotels booked, so the visa officer can see exactly how long you are going to spend in each country. If they think that your main destination is another country they will refuse to give you a visa.

CKhalvashi

DullGreyGuy said:

Voyager2002 said:
Strictly speaking she should only get a visa from a country that she plans to visit: perhaps her planned holiday might be divided between Spain and Southern France so she could get a visa for France? Note, however, that if she gets a visa for a Schengen country but then does not visit that country at all she would be recorded as abusing the system and so might have problems getting another Schengen visa later.

You are supposed to get it from the country you are visiting first, not just any on the list that you are planning to visit. Again, not sure how heavily this is policed 

It's supposed to be the main destination.

Poland is generally one of the easier ones (and generally one of the ones that traditionally issues visas for the longest). Gdansk and Wroclaw are highly recommended from me as weekend break destinations and I booked LTN-WRO-LTN flights last night for less than £18pp if you need some inspiration

DullGreyGuy

Voyager2002 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Voyager2002 said:
Strictly speaking she should only get a visa from a country that she plans to visit: perhaps her planned holiday might be divided between Spain and Southern France so she could get a visa for France? Note, however, that if she gets a visa for a Schengen country but then does not visit that country at all she would be recorded as abusing the system and so might have problems getting another Schengen visa later.

You are supposed to get it from the country you are visiting first, not just any on the list that you are planning to visit. Again, not sure how heavily this is policed 

You are supposed to get it from the country which is your main destination which may not be the country where you arrive. Enforcement is fairly lax since the definition of "main" is fairly vague. In practice you need to show hotel bookings when you apply for the visa and are only given a visa for the number of days for which you have hotels booked, so the visa officer can see exactly how long you are going to spend in each country. If they think that your main destination is another country they will refuse to give you a visa.

Yes, appears I confused the next rule which is if your stay is going to be equal duration in two or more countries then it has to be the first

Voyager2002

DullGreyGuy said:

Voyager2002 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Voyager2002 said:
Strictly speaking she should only get a visa from a country that she plans to visit: perhaps her planned holiday might be divided between Spain and Southern France so she could get a visa for France? Note, however, that if she gets a visa for a Schengen country but then does not visit that country at all she would be recorded as abusing the system and so might have problems getting another Schengen visa later.

You are supposed to get it from the country you are visiting first, not just any on the list that you are planning to visit. Again, not sure how heavily this is policed 

You are supposed to get it from the country which is your main destination which may not be the country where you arrive. Enforcement is fairly lax since the definition of "main" is fairly vague. In practice you need to show hotel bookings when you apply for the visa and are only given a visa for the number of days for which you have hotels booked, so the visa officer can see exactly how long you are going to spend in each country. If they think that your main destination is another country they will refuse to give you a visa.

Yes, appears I confused the next rule which is if your stay is going to be equal duration in two or more countries then it has to be the first

There is considerable scope for confusion. In practise there are unlikely to be problems so long as you do actually visit the country that issued the visa. However, you need accommodation bookings to get a visa so the visa officer can see where you will be spending most of your time and may refuse your application: that happened to someone I knew, who was told to apply at the 'other' Schengen country he was visiting. 

DullGreyGuy

Voyager2002 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Voyager2002 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Voyager2002 said:
Strictly speaking she should only get a visa from a country that she plans to visit: perhaps her planned holiday might be divided between Spain and Southern France so she could get a visa for France? Note, however, that if she gets a visa for a Schengen country but then does not visit that country at all she would be recorded as abusing the system and so might have problems getting another Schengen visa later.

You are supposed to get it from the country you are visiting first, not just any on the list that you are planning to visit. Again, not sure how heavily this is policed 

You are supposed to get it from the country which is your main destination which may not be the country where you arrive. Enforcement is fairly lax since the definition of "main" is fairly vague. In practice you need to show hotel bookings when you apply for the visa and are only given a visa for the number of days for which you have hotels booked, so the visa officer can see exactly how long you are going to spend in each country. If they think that your main destination is another country they will refuse to give you a visa.

Yes, appears I confused the next rule which is if your stay is going to be equal duration in two or more countries then it has to be the first

There is considerable scope for confusion. In practise there are unlikely to be problems so long as you do actually visit the country that issued the visa. However, you need accommodation bookings to get a visa so the visa officer can see where you will be spending most of your time and may refuse your application: that happened to someone I knew, who was told to apply at the 'other' Schengen country he was visiting. 

Yes, a former client effectively had a very large number of iNEDs from all over the world and one of the PAs was aligned to them all. Could see her face drop each time one phoned/emailed with a visa Q like the Indian NED who was due to go to Switzerland for medical treatment before going to Greece a week later for a board meeting but asked if it was ok if his plane just dropped him off there and then took his wife directly to Greece given Switzerland had issued the Schengen visa to them both.

Not sure what evidence of accommodation you submit when you are staying on your yacht 

CKhalvashi

DullGreyGuy said:

Voyager2002 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Voyager2002 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Voyager2002 said:
Strictly speaking she should only get a visa from a country that she plans to visit: perhaps her planned holiday might be divided between Spain and Southern France so she could get a visa for France? Note, however, that if she gets a visa for a Schengen country but then does not visit that country at all she would be recorded as abusing the system and so might have problems getting another Schengen visa later.

You are supposed to get it from the country you are visiting first, not just any on the list that you are planning to visit. Again, not sure how heavily this is policed 

You are supposed to get it from the country which is your main destination which may not be the country where you arrive. Enforcement is fairly lax since the definition of "main" is fairly vague. In practice you need to show hotel bookings when you apply for the visa and are only given a visa for the number of days for which you have hotels booked, so the visa officer can see exactly how long you are going to spend in each country. If they think that your main destination is another country they will refuse to give you a visa.

Yes, appears I confused the next rule which is if your stay is going to be equal duration in two or more countries then it has to be the first

There is considerable scope for confusion. In practise there are unlikely to be problems so long as you do actually visit the country that issued the visa. However, you need accommodation bookings to get a visa so the visa officer can see where you will be spending most of your time and may refuse your application: that happened to someone I knew, who was told to apply at the 'other' Schengen country he was visiting. 

Yes, a former client effectively had a very large number of iNEDs from all over the world and one of the PAs was aligned to them all. Could see her face drop each time one phoned/emailed with a visa Q like the Indian NED who was due to go to Switzerland for medical treatment before going to Greece a week later for a board meeting but asked if it was ok if his plane just dropped him off there and then took his wife directly to Greece given Switzerland had issued the Schengen visa to them both.

Not sure what evidence of accommodation you submit when you are staying on your yacht 

Presumably papers showing you own a boat with at least a port stop pre-planned.

There is a lot of flexibility in some countries, others require strict proof of accommodation with no workaround. This is strictly a national issue for an international visa rather than an international one, although you may be asked on subsequent visits (I translated informally at Vienna for an Armenian man in English/Russian combination his plans in December, he was taken away for further interview before entering on an EU passport with OH following me on a Schengen visa free passport a few seconds later without issues, we had a flight booked to London about 8 hours later if anyone asked and stayed landside in the airport overnight).