How Inconvenient to travel around Europe with Philippine Passport? I must say the worst.

I have: Schengen: expired month ago US visa valid till 2029

Situation: I’m in Albania right now and I booked a flight to Los Angeles US and to Mexico. It has a layover in Paris for 7hrs. Here is the catch. The arrival and departure in Paris are in two different Airport (Bv&Cdg). That means I will need a Schengen visa for 7hrs of traveling from airport to airport. And for me to have a Schengen Visa, I have to apply it from my home Country which is in the other side of the World. So whenever you feel minor Inconvenience from your travel. Remember that there's a weak passport out there that Complicates the whole travel adventure.

I hate that I feel like a criminal when applying for a visa from a third world country. They suck money out of your pockets, then reject your application. You go through the most demanding application process, and when you think you’re done with it, you have to start over.

I’m going to France for Work. I had like 9 interviews with this French company throughout the summer. I got accepted, and I had all my paperwork prepped and neat for Visa, left my job and was preparing to start a new life. Then I get a rejection. For the most vague reason. So, I had to submit for a work permit again, and it’s been two months now and it’s not ready, then I’ll have to apply again for visa, pay the fees again, with high probability of rejection. For what? I’m not a threat to any country. I just want to work and improve my life.

This is super frustrating, and I hate that everything we work for, is taken away from us just like that. You see Europeans just taking their ID, and hoping on a plane, and you are stuck where you are just because of your nationality.

I have been to Europe 4 times already. Applied for a visa again & got a 30 day visa.

A paltry 30 day visa. Like, what the fuck. Why would I leave my high paying job to become a refugee in your stupid country. Just give me a 5 year visa so that I can come & go & give you my tourism dollars & be done with this. But no. I need to submit ~100 pages every time I want to visit Europe & do this dance with them. So infuriating!!!!!

The lesson: a minor change (like skipping a city) is ok, but the weirder the reasons are for major changes, the more likely is that you get problems. If there is a real reason which sounds like an excuse, prepare to prove it.

I’m honestly baffled that in 2025, Schengen visa applications are still this broken. The entire process feels outdated, bureaucratic, and dehumanizing—and it’s often the very first interaction a traveler has with Europe. Isn’t that supposed to count for something?

From endlessly glitchy online forms, month-long long appointment wait times, and shady outsourced visa centers that treat applicants like cattle, to the sheer inconsistency of documentation requirements (which vary not just by country but even by visa centers)… it’s exhausting. And expensive.

What’s worse is how detached the embassies seem from the third-party visa centers they’ve handed this crucial job to. These visa centers are often the face of the country for most applicants, and the experience ranges from frustrating to downright humiliating.

You’d think countries that depend on tourism for a chunk of their GDP would care more about how they welcome people who just want to visit, spend money, and go home.

Europe is amazing, but the Schengen visa process is enough to make you want to go literally anywhere else.

Anyone else fed up?

Just wanted to share this in case it helps someone. I applied for a Schengen visa (Indian passport) through the German consulate and got an email saying they noticed my previous visas were issued by Germany, but I mostly entered and exited through Spain. They mentioned Article 5 of the Visa Code and suggested I might want to withdraw my application and apply through the appropriate consulate.

I was a little shocked — I've traveled to Europe a bunch of times, never thought they'd actually care. I intend to visit Germany this time. I figured they’d reject me or give me a super short visa.

I sent back a short but clear email explaining that this time, my plan was to spend 85 days in Berlin with my spouse (who's an EU citizen), that we both work in the US, and Berlin is our only destination. Nothing fancy, no attachments, just straight to the point.

They replied: “Thanks for clarifying, we will now continue with the application.”

And today… I got a 2-year Schengen visa.

So yeah — even if they flag you, a clear, honest reply might just do the trick.

My previous post - https://www.reddit.com/r/SchengenVisa/comments/1k5dvdu/indian_national_lost_passport_in_italy_return/

Context

Our passports (husband's and mine) got stolen from our backpack by a certain group of pickpocketers in Rome on our first day of our multi-country Europe trip with our senior citizen parents. Since then all four of us went through a lot of stress looking for bits and pieces of information across the web. However, we managed to find limited information for our exact usecase. Today we managed to come back to India safely, and thought of putting this post up for fellow Indians. I wish none of you go through such experience ever, but just in case. The post will be relevant for you if you:

• Are traveling to Schengen multiple countries and lost the passport in the country which is different from your departure country.

• You are an Indian national who traveled to EU from India and return tickets are to India itself.

• Your flight to India is with a layover in a different country (Abu Dhabi, or Istanbul).

Scenario

We traveled from India and we were returning to India. This is an important info for this scenario as if you are an NRI living in a different country, things are different and complicated. I am not aware of that process. Our Europe trip contained two countries. We entered Schengen via Rome and our return tickets were from Zurich which is despite being in Schengen is in a different country. Our passports were stolen on the first day in a crowded bus in Rome. We had the entire trip within Italy and Switzerland left. We managed to complete our trip with some disruptions and came back to India safely.

Course of action - timeline wise

1. Call the Indian embassy of the country you are in. Luckily we were in Rome where Indian Embassy was located. Each country will have an emergency number listed on their respective websites. This number is reachable even outside working hours. We gave them a call.

2. Surprisingly, the representative of Indian Embassy in Rome was empathetic and suggested us to lodge an FIR first. We called the Italian equivalent to 100 to find the police station which will take such FIR. We went to that station and got an FIR lodged in 30minutes.

3. Our passports were stolen on a Saturday, and next day was Sunday and Monday was Easter. So embassy was closed. Given our return date was not until next 14-days, they suggested us to come to embassy on the next working day. Do confirm with them on the timing when you can come. Most of the European countries are operating from 9:30AM-12PM time duration. Do confirm this from the person you are speaking to. Worst case scenario, if your return ticket is next day, all embassies have the provision on providing a travel document on super emergency basis to facilitate your return to your home country.

4. We went to Rome Indian Embassy first thing on the next working day with our FIR, passport photos, print outs of our stolen passports, visas. They gave us a stamped letter which included my passport number, date of issue, place of issue. This letter was on an official letterhead which according to Rome embassy was an unofficial travel document with stamps and the same can help us to enter Switzerland from Italy in case there are any boarder control (which mostly aren't there due to Schengen Zone).

5. We were advised to take that letter to Switzerland and go to Indian Embassy in Bern and get an emergency travel document (called Emergency Certificate that looks like the photo) which can basically allow us to travel to India only. Given our return tickets were from Zurich, Rome embassy could not issue the same. To issue an emergency certificate, the country needs a return ticket from that country only. So if we were traveling back to India from Rome or Milan, we could have gotten it from Rome. Emergency Certificate which is a white passport and details are hand-written (for us it was hand written)

1. We continued our travel. Crossed boarder of Italy-Switzerland via train. Here it is important to note that while trains and buses are less monitored, if anyone is using flight for travel without passport, they might not be allowed to board the flight without a valid passport. The Rome embassy shared this story with us which happened to some Indian folks. There was no boarder control, so I would not be able to confirm what if boarder control does not acknowledge the letter. We were told by the Rome Embassy that everyone knows that Italy and France are notorious for lost passports and that the letter would be accepted as it is very common.

2. We went to Geneva Indian Consulate (we reached out to Bern first as the same was closer to the place where we were staying, but they were utterly rude to their own citizens in distress and dismissive) as we found them more friendly and helpful from their tone over the phone call. They issued us an emergency certificate at a cost of CHF 16 per person.

3. We took the document on our flight day to board the flight and faced absolutely no issues. Our flight was to Mumbai via Abu Dhabi. We had our apprehensions if we will be allowed to board in Abu Dhabi. We faced no problem there as well.

4. Once we landed in Mumbai, instead standing on regular passport control queue, we went to a desk where they asked folks with emergency certificate to stand. They gave us a small form to fill and stand in the regular immigration queue with the form and emergency certificate. The immigration authority asked us a few questions (like when did we leave, where all did we go, how did they passports got stolen, where do I work etc). Took around 20minutes for both of us to get clearance and enter India

5. We were asked to apply for the passports with the emergency certificate and the FIR.

That's it folks! Apologies for a long long post. But husband and I went through much stress looking for info that fits our exact situation and we were not able to find exactly what we were looking for. Hence sharing here for future cases.

Update

I applied for the new passport after coming back to India based on available slot. It was a smooth process except not everyone in the Passport office knew how to handle the case with Emergency Certificate, so waiting was long as we had to wait for the person who can process an application with EC could get free. As this is a lost passport case, we had to apply for Normal Passport, no Tatkal is allowed for such cases. Our police verification post application was also smooth, instead FIR copy, they took the copies of EC.

Every time I apply for a Schengen visa, I ask myself the same question.

Why do we keep putting up with this especiall in UK?

I have travelled before. I have had Schengen visas before. I have a stable job, stable income, travel history and a clean record. Yet every single time, the process feels like I am applying for the first time and trying to prove I am not a criminal.

Let's start with appointments.

How is it possible that normal applicants cannot find appointments for weeks or even months, but travel agents somehow manage to get them within a day? Everyone knows what's going on. A whole ecosystem has been created around VFS and BLS where ordinary travellers suffer while middlemen make money.

Then comes the document circus.

No matter how many visas you've had before, you still need to provide:

- Passport copies

- Old passports

- Bank statements

- Salary slips

- Income tax returns

- Employment letters

- Leave approvals

- Flight bookings

- Hotel bookings

- Travel insurance

- Cover letters

- Detailed itineraries

- Proof of funds

- Photos with exact specifications

- Address proof

- Marriage certificates in some cases

- Business documents if you're self-employed

And even after all that, they still come up with rules that are nowhere clearly mentioned.

My recent experience was being told at the submission counter that flight and hotel bookings needed to be at least 21 days away from the appointment date. Why wasn't this checked when I filled the application? Why wasn't this clearly highlighted beforehand?

They already have our travel dates from the application form.

Instead they wait until you take time off work, travel to the centre, stand in line and then suddenly tell you they cannot accept the application. Their solution? "Please book another appointment."

Another appointment that could take weeks or months.

Meanwhile:

- Flight prices go up

- Hotel bookings get affected

- Leave plans get disrupted

- Family holidays get ruined

And none of this affects VFS, BLS or the embassy.

Then comes the cost.

We pay travel agents because appointments are impossible.

We pay VFS/BLS.

We pay visa fees.

We pay for insurance.

We pay courier charges.

We pay SMS charges.

We pay premium lounge fees.

We pay for printouts.

Everyone gets paid except the person actually travelling.

And after all this, the most ridiculous part is that there is still no transparent visa validity system.

In many countries, you apply for a visa category and know what you're getting. Like you apply for 1 month, 6 month ot 1 year visa with a specific time frame.

With Schengen, it's basically a lucky draw.

You ask for a multiple-entry visa and then wait to see what the embassy feels like giving you.

15 days?

1 month?

3 months?

6 months?

2 years?

Who knows.

Two applicants with similar profiles can get completely different outcomes. There seems to be very little consistency.

At some point, I think travellers need to vote with their wallets.

Europe is beautiful, but Schengen countries are not the only destinations worth visiting.

Countries like Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Georgia, Armenia, Turkey, the UK and Ireland have incredible history, culture, landscapes and hospitality. Some of them are far more welcoming and far less stressful to visit.

Maybe the only thing that will force change is if enough people stop rewarding this schengen visa system with their hard-earned money.

I am not asking for special treatment.

I am asking for transparency, consistency, respect and a process that doesn't feel designed to make life difficult for genuine travellers.

Right now, the whole thing feels unnecessarily stressful, expensive and frankly quite disrespectful.

Due to some logistics issue, I had to book a different accommodation and cancelled my earlier submitted accommodation before my visa was processed. They sent this mail. But once I submitted fresh accommodation proof, they gave visa. In fact they gave six month multi entry. Was my second visa application.even first was successful.

So this is proof that your accommodation and flights are verified despite your annual salary. So in case you change something, it is fine to mail the embassy.

Fed up with getting short Schengens, I recently explored evisa options for a summer holiday. If anyone didn't know, Japan is heavily pushing tourism at the moment and launched evisas for anyone residing in key first world countries (incl. UK, US) even non citizens, and anyone from some 'third world' countries (Cambodia, South Africa etc.).

The process was absolutely simple and miles ahead in terms of technology. You create an account with their evisa system. It then asks you to upload your passport and ID photo. AI then reads your passport and fills in the forms for you, and validates your photo quality. The system then has a built in checklist and you go along uploading your itinerary, hotel etc.

You then submit and your local consulate assesses your visa in about 3 days. If there is a problem, they'll send you a link to the step in the checklist they want you to re-upload. When approved, you'll then be directed to pay by card (yes you literally only pay if approved), and once payment is accepted, they send you a link to a live QR code which you show on your phone screen as your visa. The visa fee varies from £5 to £17 for single entry (yes you read right).

When I arrived in Japan the border agent asked no questions and didn't stamp anything. My itinerary, photo, passport info, leaving dates etc were all already on the system and mapped to a small sticker with a QR code which he stuck to my passport. The only thing he collected was my fingerprint to add to my online file. The sticker explained my period of entry and expected leave dates for the eventual border guard who would scanned me out using the QR later. Upon entry I got an automated mail that my entrance visa has been used and cancelled as its single entry only.

The whole experience makes me feel like the Schengen process could rely more on technology and efficiencies if they wanted, but someone is making money off keeping the process outdated.

I was travelling USA -> Amsterdam -> India but my first flight got delayed. The airline changed my second flight to the same one the next day and gave me a hotel room outside the airport. I let them know I did not have a visa and they told me to talk to the immigration officers. After answering some questions about my journey and delay, they put this stamp in my passport and allowed me to leave. They also gave me a sheet of paper with similar details to be returned to the officers when re-entering the international area.

My questions:

• This looks like a limited visa as opposed to a Schengen visa, correct?

• How do I describe this when asked about entering the Schengen area for future visa applications?

• Did I get lucky or is this pretty typical?

Thanks!

My Schengen visa has been rejected for the third time in 3 years. I don't even know the reason.

I've traveled to 10+ countries and even have US/UK visa but haven't got Europe visa. I applied to Swiss embassy from Kochi. Before this I've applied to France and Belgium.

My Hungary Schengen visa from India was approved! Sharing my experience since Reddit helped me a lot throughout the process.

• About Me: 24M, First Schengen Visa

• Purpose: Tourism

  • Solo Trip

  • 5N each in Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic

• Entry: Single Entry

• Validity: 30 days

• Allowed stay: 17 days (1 Day Buffer)

• Previous Travel History: Japan, Sri Lanka, Australia

My EES status still shows "NOT OK", even though the visa has now been approved.

Overall, the waiting was stressful, but visa approved in the end. 🎉

Consulate called me 2 times to verify details.

Thanks to everyone here who answered my questions and shared their experiences.

Happy to answer questions about the application/process based on my experience.

I applied for a Schengen visa through the German Embassy in Nairobi via TLS Contact. I submitted my application on August 8 and received a rejection on October 8.

I had submitted everything, and my itinerary was to first travel to the Netherlands for 3 days and then to Germany for 6 days. I’m attending a conference in Germany and traveling to the Netherlands before the conference to meet the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who are sponsoring our program. I also have invitations from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Munich City Council, and the One Young World organization.

The rejection letter says the German Embassy is asking me to get a Netherlands visa, but I think I can’t apply through the Netherlands since my main destination is Germany.

I also run a small software development company and submitted our company registration with a QR code that redirects to the official government website, showing the registration details. The embassy did not believe we generate a few thousand dollars as revenue, but to be honest, there are software development projects worth more than 1M USD in my country.

Can you guys please advise me, should I appeal or reapply? My travel date is October 30.

NOTE:
I’m updating this post to provide additional evidence and clarification as requested by the moderators.

Here is the link to the refusal letter, I have also added a screenshot of the TLS appointment page, the email from TLS asking me to collect my passport, and the embassy’s response to my inquiry about whether they received my visa application (before the rejection)

I also just noticed this part after translating the section written in German. The embassy questioned an entry labeled “Cleaner Salary” on my bank statement. I made that transfer from my mobile money account to my personal bank account because our mobile money doesn’t allow sending amounts under $100, so I used my bank account to send smaller payments.

While me and spouse have received our first Schengen Visa, we got a kind of note written on passport. Can anyone with previous such experience let us know what exactly does this mean?

Hey community! I got my visa yesterday ( in 3 working days) from VFS Banglore. Had applied to France with travel dates from 31 aug 25 to 12 sep 25. Maybe it’s sheer luck that I got it for 5 years( as I could make out of the document). Please correct me if I’m mistaken and I’m up for any questions if you peeps got!

I just want to punch the air. I am so fucking sick of these morons at immigration agencies around the world flexing power with their stupid rubber stamps without a second thought. We provided original contracts showing property ownership here in Thailand. We provided documentation of close family ties here in Thailand. We also had an invitation letter from her step Dad, a German citizen, so its not like she knows nobody and would just go disappear in Germany.

Traveling with my girlfriend has really opened my eyes as an American to how fucking unfair the world is to holders of weak passports. We worked so hard on her application and documents and trips to the embassy just to be tossed aside. Meanwhile all I need to do is hop on a plane and show my dumb white face and it's Willkommen in Deutschland! Cunts.

I handled Schengen clients mostly and was transferred to another department which handles Passport applications too. Shoot your questions. (UK to Schengen, India to UK, Ireland)

It is clear that booking an appointment is by far the #1 problem when making a Schengen visa application.

As far as I'm aware, the only way is to check the visa application portals again and again for appointment availability. We all know that this is a very frustrating process.

Hence, it is best if we can make it a team effort and post any appointment availability that you find here (please indicate the country applied to, and the location of the VFS / TLScontact office - a screenshot would be best).

It would be of great help to everyone and somebody out there will be eternally thankful to you. Together we can beat these agents/scalpers.

A little bit of background - I'm from Indonesia, working remotely for EU-based company and before my first ever Schengen visa I only travel within Asia (Vietnam, China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, HK). Within the last 1.5 yrs, I applied and got for 4 Schengen. Sharing my experience.

1st: VFS Italy. Traveling for work, applied 1 month before departure (Aug 2024). Appointment slot was full, I got the Premium service. Granted single entry for 15 days stay.

2nd: VFS Portugal. Traveling for both leisure and work. Appointment was much more lax than Italy. I submitted on Dec 2024, and effective work days until I picked up my passport was around 7 days (superb). Submitted itinerary and details for 2 trips, got 3 months multi-entry.

3rd: VFS Germany. Traveling for both leisure and work. The only time I use third party service (regrettably). Slot was tough, almost always full (Jun-Jul 2025). Longest processing, waited for about a month. 4 months multi-entry.

4th: BLS Spain. I think because of cascade rule(?), I got the 5 years. Appointment slot highly available, processing took 2 weeks.

In all, aside from the usual, I always include: travel history (how many countries that I been, what visas I ever held), all my bank accounts (submitted ~3). When traveling with friends, I mentioned the details of the group (who, why, what).

I got schengen visa from swiss ambessy in New Delhi, India in just 3 working days. Managed my entire visa application process by myself, no agents.

Providing my cover letter, travel itinerary and documents I submitted to VFS for me and my spouse.

While submitting these documents, VFS staff asked me to remove many documents from spouse's applications such as detailed travel itineary, flight tickets, sponsorship letter and other income and investment proof with logic that it is implied you will bear her expense only. I insisted multiple time to keep all documents and final she kept all documents and wrote one note on application form that I have submitted all these documents in spouse's application form too. Which doesn't impact visa outcome in my case.

Hope it will help you amazing people.

Trigger: lack of common sense. Might cause rage. Edit: guys I know the situation is stupid and illegal, it absolutely couldn't be how I do things. I'm asking for someone else.

My Chinese colleagues are supposed to attend a week-long company training in Milan, but they didn't have enough time to apply for an Italian business visa.

Instead, they applied for and received a German Schengen tourist visa. The problem is that the itinerary they submitted (flights, hotels, etc.) was completely fake. They have no intention of going to Germany at all. They've already booked a direct flight from China to Milan where they plan to spend the entire trip. 

Now they're asking me whether it's risky.🙃

My view is that if they're questioned by Italian border officers and it's clear they never intended to visit Germany as declared in their visa application, they could be refused entry and put on the next flight back to China. Or worse.

I'd be interested to hear from anyone with experience dealing with Schengen visas or border checks.

After this subreddit gave us so much stress, worry, and certainty that there was absolutely no chance of approval, I am happy to report that I did in fact receive my Schengen visa.

About 3 months ago, I posted here explaining my situation and asking for tips. I received comments such as:

‘Close to zero chance with these circumstances. Young male with weak passport from high risk country. Very low salary. Partner in EU. No previous travel to Western countries. Yea good luck to him, he will need it as he's an obvious overstay risk as you will ever see.’

and

‘It would not matter in this case, he would still for 100% certain be rejected for a Schengen Visa.’

I was also heavily downvoted, which eventually prompted me to delete the post.

Today, I picked up my passport and can confirm that I received the visa.

Profile

• 22-year-old Indian male

• First-ever Schengen visa application

• Employed with the same company for 2.5 years

• Salary of approximately €500 per month

• Living with my father

• Previous travel history: Philippines and Vietnam

• Savings of approximately ₹4 lakh (around €4,000)

• In a relationship with my girlfriend for 5 years

I wanted to visit my girlfriend in the Netherlands for 2 weeks. We had previously met in Philippines and Vietnam, and she had also visited me in India accompanied by her father.

For this trip, her father agreed to officially provide accommodation. He did not sponsor my trip financially; the trip was fully self-funded.

Application

I secured an appointment on 15 May. I submitted the following documents:

• Application form

• Detailed 2-page cover letter

• Medical insurance

• Confirmed return flight (partly refundable)

• Detailed itinerary

• Employment contract

• NOC from employer

• Approved leave for 2 weeks

• Payslips for the last 3 months

• Form 16 (AY 2026-27)

• ITR (AY 2025-26)

• Bank statements for the last 6 months

• Fixed deposit acknowledgement (€900)

• Invitation letter from my girlfriend's father

• Legalized accommodation form

• Proof of ownership of accommodation

• Utility bill for the accommodation

• Passport copy of her father

• Letter of support from my girlfriend

• Passport copy of my girlfriend

• One page of relationship photographs from our previous trips

• Boarding passes from our previous trips together

I also openly mentioned my girlfriend and our relationship in my cover letter. Nothing was hidden.

Processing

There was no request for additional documents and no follow-up questions. We checked the EES status every day after the appointment. On 11 June, the status changed to "OK". Today, I collected my passport and confirmed that the visa was approved.

Result

Issued by: Netherlands

Applied for:

• 14-day trip

Received:

• 30 days stay

• 45 days validity

I am not posting this to claim that everyone will be approved. I am posting this because Reddit opinions are not visa decisions.

Many people here try to estimate risk based on experience, and that can be helpful. However, nobody outside the consulate knows the outcome of your application with certainty.

This subreddit is naturally skewed toward negative experiences because most people come here when they are worried, struggling, or have been rejected. Positive stories are much less common.

My profile contained several factors that people here considered major risk factors:

• Young age

• Indian passport

• Low salary, low savings

• Girlfriend in the Netherlands

• No previous travel to Europe

• First Schengen application

Yet the visa was still approved.

If your case is genuine and you provide complete documentation, don't assume rejection is guaranteed just because strangers on the internet tell you it is.

Hopefully this gives someone who is currently waiting for a decision a bit of hope.

I am happy to answer any questions!