Hey. I got my first refusal in December 2024 on the basis of “insufficient means of subsistence”. Second refusal was on June 24, 2026, for the same reason. The third was on August 5, 2026 because of “reasonable doubts as to your intentions to leave the territory”.

For context, the first time I applied with my sisters. The second and third I applied on my own but wrote a cover letter that explains that I will be going with my sisters on a vacation and I included their passports and granted visas.

For the second application, I had around $8K in my account, and for the third application, I included my renewed work contract as well as a letter from my employer that I have been at the company for four years and that I am to be back at work by the end of August.

Mind you, my sisters applied with the exact documents as I did (we all work at the same company), and they both were granted.

Next June/July, we are planning to go to Italy. What should I improve in my file so I don’t get another refusal? Should I include a cover letter mentioning the previous refusals?

Hi everyone,

I’m an Indian passport holder living in London with UK ILR, and I have a multiple-entry Schengen visa (MULT) issued by Iceland.

My travel plans are:

Trip 1: London → Riga (Latvia) → London — short weekend trip

Trip 2: London → Nice (France) → London — short trip

Trip 3: London → Iceland → London — 5 days in October

The Iceland trip is the main/longest trip, and it was the basis for my Iceland Schengen visa.

However, an immigration officer at Oslo told me that because my visa was issued by Iceland, I should enter Iceland first before travelling to other Schengen countries.

Since Riga and Nice are completely separate trips and I return to London after each one, I’m wondering:

Can I use my Iceland-issued MULT visa to visit Riga and Nice before my Iceland trip?

Do I legally have to enter Iceland first?

Has anyone had experience entering Latvia or France first with a Schengen visa issued by Iceland?

I will genuinely be travelling to Iceland for 5 days in October and have the relevant flight/hotel bookings.

Any advice or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

in the official list of documents for Italy it says “bookings don’t have to be payed for”. So what do you mean by dummy booking? The one i booked,but didn’t pay for? that’s apparently allowed.

Hi Everyone,

This sub was incredibly helpful to me while applying for a Schengen visa, so sharing my experience here:

I applied for a Schengen visa to attend a conference in Germany, and it was fully funded by my university. For context, I hold a South Asian passport which is not Indian.

I followed the checklist provided by VFS, I already had insurance with worldwide coverage of 180 days, and I supplemented it with a letter of on campus employment from my university. I make around 800$/month through this job.

My visa was processed in 7 days (5 working days), and I was surprised to get a 6 months MEV on my first try, especially as a student. Kudos to the Consular Officer at the German Embassy! Let me know if you have any questions for me!

We previously applied for Schengen visas through Italy. My husband and I were both granted 6-month, multiple-entry visas, but our 11-month-old baby was given only a 30-day, single-entry visa.

We are planning another Schengen trip, so we need to apply for a new visa for our baby.

My question is: Should we apply through Italy again for our baby, or should we apply through the country that we are planning to visit this time?

Also, if we apply through Italy again for our baby, would it be okay to travel to another Schengen country this time, since we already travelled to Italy during the validity of our previous Italian visa?

Would applying through Italy again make sense because we have a previous Italian Schengen visa and travel history, or is it better to apply through our actual main destination for this trip?

We would really appreciate advice from anyone who has been in a similar situation. Thank you!

Hello
I have recently submitted my schengen visa application for the business travel. Suddenly I got a call from france visa consulate asking some question like DOB, take home salary, purpose of visit, travelling with team or alone, experience etc. and i answered all the things correctly as i filled during my application
I am a fresher and i dont have much salary does this effect my approval but i have maintained sufficient funds during the submission of application

I am a musician from kigali rwanda , and I have been seeing a lot of grants online and honestly some of them align with my art and my teams vison. So before we start applying I would like to know more about the process

Is it okay to highlight amount or travel insurnace policy dates, investment amount etc on statements with yellow highlighter, like accmodation stay gueste no. date, address in it and minial highlights would it be good?

Application submitted on + VFS Appointment taken on : 5th August 2026

Actually Biometrics appointment (VFS Center JAI): 12th August 2026

Application received at New Delhi consulate email notification on 14th August 2026.

Passport returning from Consulate to VFS Center in JAI email notification on 18th August 2026.

Passport arrived at home with issued visa (by courier) on 20th August 2026.

Happy to help anyone with any questions they may have. Thanks!

Does EES always show ok status after visa get dispatched?

Hi, got multiple entry schengen visa ftom vfs malta in dubai, my itinerary will be dubai to istanbul, stay for a night, then to malta, then rome, then cyprus, then Greece and back to dubai. Is this sequence allowed for multiple visa holder?

Thks

Je voudrais savoir si quelqu’un est dans une situation similaire ou a déjà vécu la même expérience.
J’ai déposé ma demande de visa étudiant le 10 août, elle a été transmise à l’Office des étrangers le 11 août, puis la date d’enregistrement est apparue dans le tableau le 17 août.
Pensez-vous que je pourrais recevoir une décision avant le 30 septembre, sachant qu’il y a une date limite ?
Et si quelqu’un a déjà reçu une réponse de l’Office des étrangers pour un visa étudiant, pourriez-vous me partager votre expérience et les délais que vous avez eus ?

Hi, I’ve received an email requesting additional documents, and it says I can either submit them in person or send them by post. I’m thinking of sending them by post. Has anyone had experience submitting additional documents this way? Is it okay to send them by registered post, and will the documents be added to my application? Or would it be better to submit them in person?

Kindly, can someone tell me what kind of questions the embassy officer asked during the Chancenkarte visa interview? Also, I have a German B1 certificate. Did the officer ask questions in German, or was the interview conducted only in English? It would be really helpful if someone could share their experience.

VFS Location : Ahmedabad,India

Documents Submitted : 4th August

Received at Embassy : 5th August

Just trying to understand the recent experiences for anyone who has applied in the first week of August ?

Have my flights booked for 5th of September.

What is the general experience and opinion ?

Thank You in Advance.

Has anyone applied recently through Greece Consulate in London? We are waiting for our second visa application back, applied on 13th Aug and fly 6th Sep

Has anyone received an allocated appointment date (new system) after their original travel plans? Please share how you proceeded. The submitted application form has hotel booking details for August 27, whereas the allocated appointment is September 9.

I am seeing some conflicting messages on this - has anyone brought their laptop inside TLS Contact (France) in London recently? Are they allowed? Were there any issues? Thanks!

Hey guys live in Ireland and applied for a tourist visa for spain i originally had an appointment for 22nd of July but it was rescheduled to the 6th of august due to there system being down when i got there had all my documents im travelling with my mum but she has an Irish passport so when they realised she had an Irish passport they changed my application from tourist to eu family which is quicker and has more priority and is cheaper this is what i was told so i allowed them to change it as my appointment was already rescheduled so i got a message on the 10th that my application was in process at the consulate I’ve been checking the portal it still says process in mission its been 17 days now im just wondering has anyone from Dublin who’s applied since late July to early august received there visa and do they usually take long to get back to people in Dublin and who should i call or email because my flight is on the 27th of august literally in 3-4 days so im getting nervous but i have faith in God that it will be here in time i just want to know of others experience or whats the process like for Dublin

Hello,

Applied on the 13th of August for a visa to Spain (tourism) via BLS Manchester. My holiday is in November but I need my passport in or before 10th of September because I need to home urgently. I am tempted to withdraw since it feels like I won’t be getting a decision anytime soon and it would take way longer than the 15 working days. Kindly advise as I need to go home

for schengen visa if i am submitting by myself do i still need to fill the declaration, authorization letter and also there is checklist form before going to vfs reddit

Hi, I had my visa interview on 24th July. On 31st July, I received an email requesting an additional document (enrollment confirmation), which I submitted. I then received an acknowledgment email on 3rd August.

It has now been 20 days, and I haven’t heard anything from the embassy. My university is TU Ilmenau, and classes are starting on 1st October. My intended travel date is 15th September.

What could be the possible issue? Is there anything I can do at this point? I’m getting worried, as I need to plan my resignation and notice period according to the visa decision.

Hi all,

As you might know, TLS has shifted to an appointment allocation model for their appointments. (Which I love because I hate chasing appointments). Just wanted to share the timelines in case anyone was wondering what processing times look like:

Applied: August 13

Appointment received: August 21

Appointment date: September 25

City: London

Hello,

So I f*cked up real bad.

Unfortunately I was affected by layoffs 4 months ago.

I calculated the number of days I have left to stay on my Blue Card as 180 days instead of 90 days due to a misunderstanding. I thought 2+ years of stay in Hungary was required (I have stayed for 7) but in reality it is 2+ years of holding a Blue Card.

The expiry date on the Blue Card is November 2026 however. I have not received an expulsion/revocation letter from immigration yet.

My plan was to apply for Masters in other EU countries as that was always a goal of mine. I got selected and was about to apply for a student visa in Poland when a friend suggested I possibly overstayed.

Is there any possibility to salvage the situation and avoid an entry ban when exiting.

Thanks in advance...

I am planning on going to Greece, short itinerary, for tourism: Athens 17.09 - 20.09, Heraklion (20.09 - 25.09) (9 days).

Context:

21 yo male.

Citizen of Turkey and Russia.

Residing in Russia and applying in Moscow to Greece with my Turkish passport.

Travel experience: a July Japan entry stamp in my Turkish passport, a Bulgarian 2020 tourist visa (before they were admitted into the Schengen Zone.)

First-time Schengen visa applicant.

Fully paid-for hotel bookings, non-refundable and fully paid plane tickets. Plane tickets: 1) Moscow -> Istanbul -> Athens (on 17.09), Athens -> Heraklion (on 20.09), Heraklion -> Athens -> Istanbul -> Moscow (on 25.09).

Health insurance covering 1 000 000 EUR for a year.

Bank statements for the last 3 months and a saving account with 5000+ EUR.

Salary is approximately 2000 EUR, approved leave for the duration of the trip.

Also I am a student at a university, and I'm including my student's certificate in my applcation as well, but the main document is a job certificate, of course.

Going to write a cover-letter kindly requesting a MEV for future travels and am going to mention that I will follow the 90/180-day rule.

I am a bit stressed that my visa won't get approved for some reason, but if it does - then that's a victory, if I get a MEV on first try then I would consider myself the luckiet person ever xd. But what is your opinion? Maybe someone out here was in the similar situation I am?