Schengen visa application, where should I apply?

[EmMc 0]

Hi everybody

I am a US permanent resident with a citizenship of Thailand. I am planning on visiting 8 countries in Europe in May and since I'm not a US citizen yet, then I need a Schengen visa to travel. The problem is I don't know which consulate office I should be applying to. Someone suggested to me that I should apply for a Schengen visa at the consulate office of the country that I will be spending the most time in, which in this case is Italy (6 days from May 25th-30th). However, Italy is not my first entrance. I will be entering the Netherlands as the first country on May 15th but will only be spending 4 days there.

In this scenario, should I be applying for a Schengen visa at Italy or the Netherlands consulate office? And when is the earliest time I can make an appointment to apply? 90 days from the Italy trip date or 90 days from the Netherlands trip date?

Is it possible to apply at the Netherlands consulate office since I would love to be able to start application process as soon as possible so I can begin with the train/plane tickets booking in advance.

Thank you.

[pinoygwapo 1]

You might consider applying at the Netherlands embassy for various reasons. First, the CO officers are very nice and really accommodating. Second, since it is your first POE, it is practical to apply thru their embassy. Third, I have heard they are friendlier than the Italian consulate so they mostly grant visas.

[Laure&Colin 558]

Give a call to the consulate of the Netherlands and explain your story. I'm pretty sure you should apply with them, since entrance into the Schengen area is the only time anyone will look at your visa.

[EmMc 0]

Thank you everyone! No luck with Netherlands' consulate so far. I emailed them today and told them the story, however, they advised me to go apply at Italy consulate since it is the country where I will be spending the most time in. I tried to email Italy Consulate office in San Francisco to find out when would be the earliest possible date for me to come in for an interview since according to the 90 days rule, I will have to wait until Feb 25th to be able to apply at Italy, but if considering 90 days prior to Schengen area .. I should be able to apply on Feb 15th since I will be in the Netherlands by then. I tried to ask this specific question but I don't think I had my question answered. Now I still don't know if I should go in to Italy Consulate office on Feb 16th or not. I know it's only 10 days difference, but the earlier the better for me because after this process, I still have to send in my passport to UK Embassy for visa too. Now I'm wondering what I should do now ..

Should I go ahead and book all the hotels and plane tickets? How difficult is it to get a Schengen visa?

I am worried since all the bookings are nonrefundable, I won't get my money back if my visa is not granted. So I don't know if I should wait. Anybody with experiences please?

[bmiles62 5]

Thank you everyone! No luck with Netherlands' consulate so far. I emailed them today and told them the story, however, they advised me to go apply at Italy consulate since it is the country where I will be spending the most time in. I tried to email Italy Consulate office in San Francisco to find out when would be the earliest possible date for me to come in for an interview since according to the 90 days rule, I will have to wait until Feb 25th to be able to apply at Italy, but if considering 90 days prior to Schengen area .. I should be able to apply on Feb 15th since I will be in the Netherlands by then. I tried to ask this specific question but I don't think I had my question answered. Now I still don't know if I should go in to Italy Consulate office on Feb 16th or not. I know it's only 10 days difference, but the earlier the better for me because after this process, I still have to send in my passport to UK Embassy for visa too. Now I'm wondering what I should do now ..

Should I go ahead and book all the hotels and plane tickets? How difficult is it to get a Schengen visa? Just noticed this post was a year old. Woops!!!

I am worried since all the bookings are nonrefundable, I won't get my money back if my visa is not granted. So I don't know if I should wait. Anybody with experiences please?

Not sure if this will help but my wife was just approved for the Schengen visa. We are going to France on March 29th. I think you should apply within the 90 days of when you enter your first country. I feel like it was pretty easy to get tis VISA and your wife should not have a problem however they do state that you should not get your airline tickets until you get approved. For us we had to go to the French Embassy in Atlanta. WE had to show them a possible itinerary for our flight and our hotel. Then after they had everything they needed they kept my wife’s passport and I had to mail them a copy of our actual tickets that I purchased after our interview. About a week later they sent her passport back with the VISA attached.

Edited February 6, 2013 by bmiles62

[Pitaya 2,577]

~Two year old thread closed for further comment~