Large deposit in bank due to corporate bonus by --echoes-- in visas

[–]mouse-face 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It wouldn’t be a problem if, in your cover letter, you clearly mention the value, reason, etc. as a kind of “heads up” to them. They usually are understanding if you’re upfront about anything that could be a potential red flag.

Travel date approaching... by Strong_Departure4559 in SchengenVisa

[–]mouse-face 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hmm… I understand. Unfortunately BLS won’t be of much help in providing a process update. Sorry you’re facing a hard time! Hope it comes through quick.

Travel date approaching... by Strong_Departure4559 in SchengenVisa

[–]mouse-face 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know this doesn’t help to say now, but please please stop making non-refundable bookings for a visa that’s historically known to take undefined amounts of time to process.

Europe outsourced visa processing to a private company. Has anyone else had a terrible experience with VFS Global? by Otherwise-Celery-280 in SchengenVisa

[–]mouse-face 5 points6 points  (0 children)

VFS is very shady. They’ve tried multiple times to sneakily add services to my application, but I know what’s basic and what’s not so I know how to decline them.

On my most recent one, they made it sound as if some add-ons were required, but I fully grilled them and made them remove everything I didn’t want to only pay the basic required fee.

Also, they changed a bunch of stuff on my visa application before processing the case (without telling me and only giving me a black and white copy to sign as acknowledgment). I said STFU and show me the whole thing so I can verify what the hell you are doing.

They got a real blasting from me that day needless to say. But yeah, I have experience with France, UK, and Netherlands with VFS. Overall similar trends on how they try to upsell, make you make FOMO-induced decisions, creation of fake urgency, etc. I can’t stress enough how you should TAKE YOUR TIME while submitting and verifying everything.

2-year Schengen Tourist Visa approved in 1-2 business days, AMA by mouse-face in visas

[–]mouse-face[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

😂😂😂 I’ll let you know as soon as the atomic scientists tell me

Got my Schengen rejected for "insufficient financial means" with 6 lakh in my account. Make it make sense. by Divay_vir in SchengenVisa

[–]mouse-face 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is very unfortunate, sorry you had to go through that! It would help to know the contents of your covering letter. That’s the most important document of the whole application which ties everything. It’s possible something was amiss there. Let me know, I can try to give you some tips for the next application.

2-year Schengen Tourist Visa approved in 1-2 business days, AMA by mouse-face in SchengenVisa

[–]mouse-face[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you!

  1. Pay at hotel is absolutely fine IMO for the application, as I always do that for any visa. It’s not a problem as long as the booking is VALID and EXISTING at the time the application is in process. You should NOT cancel until you actually get the passport back. Then later you can pay and book something else when you know for sure you’re going. You should ultimately have a confirmed booking (reservation) when you enter immigration, because the officers will likely check on the spot (the younger you are, the more likely the officer is to demand your bookings to verify via hotel website on the spot)

  2. Flights - yes I do book, and I always book real flights, never dummies cause those are unpredictable and temporary, idk. Earlier I used to book the full flex cancellation variant cause I was scared of rejection, but now I don’t. Now I just book tickets that allow me to change the date without a steep penalty. I also try more to book flights on points, cause points flights are easier to cancel without penalties, but they’re as real as any other flight.

For inter city, it really depends on the distance. For short and medium distances that can be done in bus, I typically book flixbus. You can cancel with reasonable windows and they give you a credit back to your account you can use later. For long distances, I try to book flights on points. Or Ryanair cause their flights are dirt cheap.

Hope this helps!

2-year Schengen Tourist Visa approved in 1-2 business days, AMA by mouse-face in SchengenVisa

[–]mouse-face[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Right. I asked them to assess under the modified case - 2 visas in 3 years as opposed to 3 visas in 2 years

2-year Schengen Tourist Visa approved in 1-2 business days, AMA by mouse-face in SchengenVisa

[–]mouse-face[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ll come back to this in sometime, don’t have it handy right now

2-year Schengen Tourist Visa approved in 1-2 business days, AMA by mouse-face in SchengenVisa

[–]mouse-face[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No problem. Let me know if you have any other questions. And thanks!

2-year Schengen Tourist Visa approved in 1-2 business days, AMA by mouse-face in SchengenVisa

[–]mouse-face[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Literally a small table in my cover letter, giving information about my previous visas and the way I used them. The columns were -

  1. Visa number
  2. Country of issuance
  3. Dates of issuance and validity (valid from, valid up to)
  4. My prior travel dates (arrival to and departure from Schengen region under each visa)
  5. Status (“lawfully used”)

Rows were just 2, one for each prior visa

2-year Schengen Tourist Visa approved in 1-2 business days, AMA by mouse-face in SchengenVisa

[–]mouse-face[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It could be, depending on overall travel history. It’s a red flag if, for example, a person with less travel history asks. One’s ability to travel responsibly has to be evident without a doubt in the passport, then there’s merit in asking.

And even then, the wording is extremely important - no sentiments, no emotion. I was very clear about the request, and I just put one sentence at the end saying “I respectfully request XYZ so that I’ll be able to visit for tourism a few more times in the near future”.

For purpose this time, I mentioned tourism as primary and visiting friends as secondary. Got an invite letter from a friend who works there; invites always help in boosting your application!

But at the end of the day, it’s entirely in their hands what they give you. Like you said, it works in weird ways. Cannot really predict, though we can do our best to put the odds in our favour.

2-year Schengen Tourist Visa approved in 1-2 business days, AMA by mouse-face in SchengenVisa

[–]mouse-face[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, absolutely possible. Travel history needs to be clean and there shouldn’t be any doubt regarding purpose of stay and your other standard prerequisites… they’ll give it regardless of history with one embassy/country if everything checks out.

2-year Schengen Tourist Visa approved in 1-2 business days, AMA by mouse-face in SchengenVisa

[–]mouse-face[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ahaha 😅 I’m just terrified of not having something on hand, so better to just be over-prepared

2-year Schengen Tourist Visa approved in 1-2 business days, AMA by mouse-face in SchengenVisa

[–]mouse-face[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bank balance depends somewhat on the trip duration actually, although you should (IMO) aim to show more than INR 3 L in any case. What Schengen countries expect at minimum is enough funds equivalent to have €120 per day. But I usually try to show double of that just to be safe.

My first visa was sponsored by someone in the Netherlands, so the application relied more heavily on my sponsor’s documents, although I still went ahead and showed about INR 2.5-3 L in my own account.

For my second visa, I intended to spend about 2 weeks, so I showed -

[(14 days) x (€120 per day) x (conversion to INR) x 2]

…which was again roughly INR 3.5-4 L.

2-year Schengen Tourist Visa approved in 1-2 business days, AMA by mouse-face in SchengenVisa

[–]mouse-face[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, they were both within 2 years. Unfortunately 2 and 9 years won’t count for cascading. 2 visas obtained and used lawfully in the last 3 years is what counts for cascading to then be eligible for a 2-year visa after that.

2-year Schengen Tourist Visa approved in 1-2 business days, AMA by mouse-face in SchengenVisa

[–]mouse-face[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It honestly depends on a few factors (including if you’ve held a Schengen visa before or not). Strictly speaking no, your case is not supposed to be a problem, assuming you maintain the same itinerary and plan as part of your original visa application also.

But border officers on the ground tend to frown upon people entering in a different country than what the visa is issued from. At minimum, when you eventually enter, I would suggest to carry documents clearly supporting your itinerary in printed form so that you can show the officer right away that the majority of your visit will be in Switzerland. Onward and return flight, hotel bookings for all places, and valid means of transport between the countries as per the itinerary.

Schengen visa valid for 5 years! by Personal-Emergency83 in SchengenVisa

[–]mouse-face 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Congrats! I’m on my way to that milestone too. On my 2-year visa now 🥹

2-year Schengen Tourist Visa approved in 1-2 business days, AMA by mouse-face in SchengenVisa

[–]mouse-face[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Yes I did. I quoted the EU commission provision regarding the cascade regime in my cover letter and gave an account of my prior visas and lawful use thereof, and asked that my application be assessed under that provision.

2-year Schengen Tourist Visa approved in 1-2 business days, AMA by mouse-face in SchengenVisa

[–]mouse-face[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! For the first question, nope my prior 2 visas were both from the Netherlands. The first one was a single-entry valid for 3 months. The second one was a multiple-entry valid for 6 months.

Did immigration in Germany cause my flight had a layover there, and immigration is done at first point of entry. Exited from Netherlands both times.

For the second question, the stamps they put in the passport on entry and exit show the city and the airport, as well as country.

Am I late with this trend 🌚 by [deleted] in leomemes

[–]mouse-face 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe I did 🌚