For applicants from African and Asian countries, the process of applying and getting a visa can be quite stressful. In the last couple of years, I have been through pretty much every type of visa process for Europe. I’ve applied for a Schengen student visa, two Schengen tourist visas, a national long-term visa and a working permit. I’ve also spent considerable time hosting friends and family and hence these tips might be of use to you, particularly if your citizenship requires a visa to travel to the Schengen region.

•           Apply to the embassy of the country where you will be spending maximum time in. Not the country where you think you would like to apply.

•           Give yourself enough time between your visa appointment and the date of departure. Keep at least six weeks, so that in case you do not hear a response or get rejected, you have enough time to repeal the decision.

•           Make sure all your documents are as detailed as possible. Assuming that a half formal looking document will work is not advisable. Get a stamp, a signature, an affidavit, whatever it may need to complete your formal documents, especially related to your job or university.

•           The cover letter you submit shouldbe more than just listing your itinerary. Think of your cover letter as a job cover letter. You need to explain how your background; your current status and your “purpose” of visiting Europe is only travel. It doesn’t need to be formal and can be written in a person manner.

•           Be sure to provide a strong reason for you to return to your home country. More often than not, this is a reason for immediate rejection. If you are unemployed or in-between jobs, you should clearly outline your future plan and how you plan to fund your travels. The reason could also be that you reside with your family and they rely on you for moral support.

•           If you are required to have a visa interview prepare a thorough list of questions and supporting documents that you may be asked. Needless to say, do not lie.

It isbest to prepare for the visa process well in advance and have a significanttime to re-apply if things really don’t work around the first time, although if you are thorough with the above-mentioned tips, there is no reason why you shouldn’t get your visa easily.

No one wants to receive a letter that says, “REJECTED”. But it happens more often than not.

The first time my sister visited me in Europe, her Schengen visa got rejected too. Shit happens.

You still have hope. The hope is something called the “remonstrance process’ which is something impossible to find information for.

It’s like this top-secret process that apparently no one wants to talk about.

Take a deep breath. And do what I tell you-

Step 1: Find the local embassy or consulate contact to see what their contact email is.

Make sure you find the embassy that rejected you. This means you have to write the local embassy (such as New Delhi embassy/Bangkok embassy, etc.) that finally checked your visa application. Not the VFS centre that merely “processed” the application.

Step 2: Write an email at this address with a hand-signed letter explaining why you should get this visa.

Think of this as a second cover letter. For Indian passport holders or other developing countries, visa rejections most often have the following reason->>>No guarantee that you will come back to India.

Unless a major document was missing, you can be assured this was most likely the reason you got rejected. Sometimes the embassy will tick a reason why they rejected your visa, but due to the overload of applications, they sometimes give no reason at all. This can be incredibly FRUSTRATING.

Anyway, once you have collected extra information and written the letter and signed it off by hand, scan a copy and send it via your personal email (which you used in the application) and send it to the local embassy.

Step 3: Prepare for a call back.

If you’re lucky you will get a call or an email back setting up a face to face appointment either for an interview or to resubmit missing documents.  Thisof this as a visa interview, and if you pass, you will get your visa stamped onthe same day or next day!

This process happened to my sister and within a week of her visa being rejected, she was given hers.

Now, how the hell do you figure out what to write in this remonstrance letter? Here’s the exact sample that I sent:

The hotel reservation needs to meet certain standards, regardless of the type of visa you wish to apply for:

1- Hotel reservation must be valid

For any application, the embassy expects your hotel to remain valid all through the period of your visa application. For many embassies, it takes 15 work days or three weeks to process application. For others, it takes two months or more (Canada embassy for example). Therefore, your hotel reservation must remain active for a long period of time to accommodate the embassy schedule for document verification.

2- Hotel reservation must be verifiable

Hotelreservation cannot be an ordinary dummy hotel booking online. By ordinary dummy hotel booking for U.K visa, dummy hotel booking for Canada visa or for any visa at that, this means a fake reservation which some get through fake hotel booking confirmation generators online. If you truly need your visa, you would not risk doing this.

The truth is: embassies will always contact hotels to verify that the hotel reservation is valid as at the time of document verification.

3– Hotel reservation can be directly from hotel

You can choose to book hotel directly from the hotel website but you must be ready to tackle some challenges. Here are the following challenges to consider:

a- Cancellation before the date on booking policy

Because the booking platform is designed to test the credibility of the debit card or the availability of funds on the card, it is likely for the reservation to cancel before the cancellation date on the booking policy. Some hotels attempt to charge one dollar or two, and once payment does not go through at the time, they cancel your reservation.

Do not forget that this sometimes happen after you have submitted your hotel reservation document to the embassy. And it carries a booking confirmation ID for verification. So, making another reservation to same hotel may not remedy the situation.

b- Undue debits/loss of money

As stated before, some hotels could debit your card before the date on the policy. If you book with a ‘book now, pay later’ policy it is possible that you forget to cancel before your payment date. And this could cost you a lot of money (average cost of hotel accommodation is $ 40 per night!). Same thing goes for booking a refundable accommodation/room. You would have to endure cancellations fees, which would not make sense to you especially if your visa is denied because of other factors.

c- Shallow hotel reservation caused by ‘book without credit card policy’

Sometimes,a reservation is not concrete because an applicant decided to do a‘book without credit card policy’. This is not difficult to figure out. Most hotels service their clients on first come, first served basis. While a visa applicant makes a ‘book without credit card policy’ booking on hotel website, another client walks into the hotel building, pays cash and demands the same room. Do you think the hotel will still keep the space for a ‘book without credit card’ customer?! (We also do not think so.)

4- Hotel reservation may not be paid for

After all that has been said, the embassy still does not expect you to pay for the actual hotel accommodation fees just to apply for visa. If the hotel can help you keep an accommodation without you making payment, then the embassy is fine with it.

The embassy is just being fair and protecting themselves. They understand that visa is not guaranteed upon application and would not be responsible for your loss. We would speculate that this is entirely how many embassies have been able to dodge law-suites for all these years. Because, seriously, many would have sued embassies for refusal after paying for proof of hotel accommodation (if necessitated by embassies).

But this is not so. There is actually a way to get hotel reservation as proof of accommodation for visa application without paying actual hotel fees.

If you think it is difficult to make hotel reservation for visa application, then you are wrong. Making hotel reservation for visa is actually easy if you know what to do. However, there are some clarifications that you may need about making hotel reservation for visa.

Hotelreservation confirmation is one of the vital supporting documents when applyingfor visa. This is why people request for hotel reservation for U.K visa, hotel reservation for Canada visa or hotel reservation for Schengen visa.

If you would be applying for visa soon, then this article will help you understand how to make hotel reservation for visa application. It also contains frequently asked questions about hotel reservation for visa. Please read on.

 People can purchase a Confirmation of a Flight Itinerary/Reservation directly by the airline company, or through online travel agents additionally called online search travel engines. Schengen visa itinerary agency engages a lot of knowledge concerning totally different airline corporations and online market in general. Thus, Schengen visa itinerary will propose you excellent and low-cost deals by typically charging you 100% of the fixed price ticket value. This manner you’ll cut the danger of, from obtaining a true Airline price ticket bought before knowing if you’ll get your Schengen Visa.

What is hotel reservation for visa application?

Hotel reservation confirmation is a proof that a hotel accommodation is book on hold for a visa applicant. Once reservation is completed, the applicant receives a confirmation document from the hotel.

This document carries the name of the applicant, the hotel check-in date and the check-out date. It also carries the name and contact details of the hotel. And, sometimes, the cost of hotel room per night and the total cost of the entire duration of stay.

But, it does not necessarily mean that the applicant has to stay at the hotel when they actually travel. It is only an illustration of what the applicant intends to do and where they intend to stay while in their proposed travel destination.

As mentioned earlier, hotel reservation is an important document for visaapplication. Many embassies consider it as “proof of accommodation” or one of the “justifications for the purpose of trip”. It is even more important for applicants who have no contacts or hosts within their proposed travel destination.

They must be able to make hotel reservation for Italy visa, hotel reservation for U.S visa, hotel reservation for Ireland visa, or to wherever they are applying to. This is because all embassies demand this document as one of such that the applicant needs to submit. This way, they do not need to have anyone give them an invitation letter since their hotel reservation will suffice.

Of course, we all want to travel, and with Europe attracting a large number of tourists from India we are only more enthusiastic now! There has also been an increase in the number of tourists recently, and this has raised a lot of queries regarding the Schengen Visa among Indians, and how to apply for it. Quite simply put, it is a magical item for travellers.

Often, it’s considered as a hassle to apply for the visa, because requirements and formalities of an application process takes lots of efforts. Along with this, the fear of getting your visa rejected always lurks in mind.

This is the reason why travel agents and tours operators are minting money from travellers, and ignorance lands many in booking hefty package deals for Europe.

The countries issuing Schengen visas currently are Austria,Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Here are the few things that one needs to keep in my mind while planning to apply for the Schengen Visa.

– Plan your trip 3-4 months before with your itinerary; it is always feasible to select the cities you want to explore, which are nearby to each other, so that you can deduct the travel expenses and travelling time. The perfect idea would be to go for Eastern Europe or Western Europe in one go.

– The idea behind spending less on  airticket is to go through deep research before booking your flight tickets and browse through 4-5 booking sites to get the best price of the ticket, and booking for a week-day ticket might give you the best deal.

– Bookyour hotels in advance like your flights, and try to go for refundable options, in case your plans change to stay somewhere else, you can cancel the booking anytime and go for other options available at that moment. One can book 2-3 stars hotels if travelling with the family, and hostels if travelling with friends or in groups.

– Collect all your bank documents with the bank stamp on it, marriage certificate if you are married, 6 months bank statement, savings statement, and any other document through which you can showcase your net worth.

– Get your no objection certificate from your workplace, if you are working. That helps a lot, from not getting any rejections.

– Book your flight tickets or bus tickets in advance, as travelling by trains will be expensive. There are many low-cost buses and airlines operating between cities.

– Goto an insurance company and get the travel insurance, basic plan for the trip.

– Take the print out of all the bank documents, booking details of hotels, insurance and inter-city flights, or bus tickets you have booked for your trip.

– Self attest all the documents, and book an appointment for the VFS centre of the country, where you want to land first.

– Carry all your documents and submit at the VFS centre on your appointment day, and give your digital fingerprints at the centre and hope for the best.

Rest assured, you are in for a crazy Euro trip if you can get your Schengen visa sorted, and the idea is to pay as little as possible.

Okay, I will be addressing the elephant in the room- the Schengen Visa. Every Indian who dreams of travelling to Europe goes through this ordeal of applying for a Schengen Visa from India and waiting for the verdict. Thankfully, Schengen Visa application is not as tedious as the US visa application and there’s no formal interview for the same. I have applied for a Schengen Tourist Visa three times and my application was processed instantaneously and visa was approved almost immediately.

In this article, I’ll be discussing the best ways to apply for aSchengen Visa, how it works and how to make sure you get one approved.

What is Schengen Visa? Which Countries are covered in Schengen Visa?

As most of you know Schengen Visa is a permit to spend up to 90 days in the Schengen area of Europe. This includes 22 countries in the European Union.  Countries covered on Schengen Visa include: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland & Liechtenstein.

Countries such as Croatia and Turkey can be also visited with few additional documents if you have a valid Schengen Visa.

Schengen Visa: The Scare

Travel agents and beneficiaries manage to implant enough scare about thetourist Schengen Visa in traveller’s minds. This leads to the travellers rushing into a panic mode, ultimately paying an amount to get the Schengen Visa approval. My verdict- absolutely unnecessary.

The travel agents make fake bookings on your behalf, leaving the air ticket to be booked at the last minute. I have made my stand on last-minute air travel booking pretty clear in the previous post- How to Book the Cheapest Flights from India. This is in case your visa is not approved, you won’t have monetary losses. In my observation, the Schengen tourist visa for Indians is most likely approved, especially if you are into a full-time job. The scare created around visa is by visa agents who want to squeeze out money from you, no offence but that’s the reality.

I highly urge you to apply for a Schengen Visa from India without an agent, on your own. It’s not only fairly easy, but also because even if you hire an agent to do so, you are going to do all the running for gathering YOUR documents, the agent will only provide you a checklist, which you can find in this blog as well.

This process is very simple and does not require any rocket science.

Once Flight Itinerary for visa application is acquired, it can be easily verified through unique booking codes also known as PNR, Confirmation Code or Reservation Number. Below is the step by step guide for the process of verification of Flight Itinerary:

Step 1

•           Go to the official website of the airline

•           Type your (traveler’s) last name,

•           Type unique six-digit alphabetical or alphanumeric PNR, Reservation or Booking code,

•           Click on Submit/Find Booking button.

Step 2

Once step 1 is completed, the official website of the airline will open a new window displaying information about proposed route, flight name, departure/arrival timings along with dates, flight code, departure/arrival airport IATA codes (Ex: JNB for Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport and MUC for Munich Airport) and flight reservation/booking numbers.

You can expect your Flight Itineraries for a visa application acquiredthrough Schengenvisaitinerary.com to be 100% valid and original with their own unique reservation codes. The flight itineraries for visa application are provided along with other lucrative features including free cancellation, free cover letter and free no objection certificate.

The verifiable Flight Itinerary for visa application issued by our team is valid for two weeks.

Connectwith or visit us at Flight Itinerary For Visa to acquire verifiable FlightItinerary for visa application at most reasonable prices. However, the prices vary as they rise depending on several factors including urgency and packages. Despite this, it costs a trivial sum of money and is far better than acquiring an actual flight ticket which may cost you $1000 or more.

The quality of service—being provided by the aforesaid website—is acknowledged by happy travelers of many countries. The testimonials are available on our website.

You can acquire verifiable Flight Itinerary for visa application as follow:

•           Go to Flight Itinerary for Visa

•           Pick the package that best suits your needs,

•           Enter your flight details and proceed with the payment,

•           You will receive Flights Reservation/Flight Itinerary via email.

We also provide online services for Hotel Booking/Proof of Accommodation and Travel Health Insurance for visa application. Simply visitus and pick the package that best suits your need.

People from Non-EU(European Union), Non-EEA(European Economic Area) countries who wish to visit Europe as tourists, and who require a visa to enter theSchengen area, are simply required to get a common Schengen Visa from the Embassy/Consulate of the Schengen country they intend to visit first.

First determine which Schengen country you are planning to visit. Then to get your visa, you have to submit required documents to the embassy or consulate of the country you are visiting in the Schengen area. If you plan to visit more than one country in the Schengen area, the visa will be issued by the country through which you enter the Schengen area.

After this, they may visit any or all of the Schengen countries as tourists or for business without hindrance. They are not required to get separate visas for all the (Schengen) European countries they wish to visit.

Required Documents

Following are some of the required documents when submitting your application. Check with the embassy or consulate for more detail.

Your Schengen visa form

You must use the standard document supplied by an embassy or consulate and submit the required number of copies.

Passport

A passport, valid for at least three months longer than the requested visa.

Some other useful documents

1) Have some documents that describe your purpose of visit.

2) Proof for your means of existence (financial proof) for the duration of your stay

3) Proof of Stay. (Hotel Reservation etc)

4) In some cases proof of medical insurance.

Important Information.

Even though you can travel with one visa between Schengen countries, it is always safe to carry your passport and any other identification with you. Some countries like Sweden and Finland still maintain customs control at their borders. Non-EU members Norway and Iceland are not a part of the EU customs union and therefore enforce the same level of custom control towards any traveler regardless of whether they come from within the Schengen area or not.

If you plan to travel to European countries that implement Schengen agreement, a Schengen Visa simplifies your travel between those countries.

With Schengen Visa you can travel between Schengen countries like travelling inter-state in USA. So all internal air, road and train travel are handled as domestic trips between those countries.

What is Schengen?

If you are curious about what “Schengen” is, Schengen is a wine-growing villagein south-eastern Luxembourg near the point where the borders of Germany, France and Luxembourg meet together.

Which Countries Can I Travel With Schengen Visa?

At present, there are 15 Schengen countries in Europe. The 15 Schengen countries are;

1. Austria

2. Belgium

3. Denmark

4. Finland

5. France

6. Germany

7. Iceland

8. Italy

9. Greece

10. Luxembourg

11. Netherlands

12. Norway

13. Portugal

14. Spain and

15. Sweden.

All these countries except Norway and Iceland are European Union members.

What are the Benefits Of Schengen Visa?

Before Schengen people from some countries were required to have separate visas for every country in Europe they wished to visit. A vast network of border posts existed around the continent which disrupted traffic and trade, causing delays and costs to both businesses and visitors.

Withthe Schengen Agreement, border posts have been closed between participatingcountries. Road traffic is no longer delayed; road, rail and air passengers no longer have their identity checked when crossing borders.

The most important supporting documents for Schengen Visa Application is a Proof of Accommodation as well as flight reservation The diplomatic office of the relevant Schengen country has to see you prearranged place to stay for the duration of your visit in the destined country.

The Embassy does that through the following recognized forms:

•             An Evidence of a Place to Stay,suchas Hotel Booking or Reservation,

•             An Invitation from The Host with a Copy of His Passport (proof of sponsorship),

•             An evidence of a pre-paid tour with details of your payment to the tour operator

Please see below snippet from embassy official site for accommodation purpose

Arisen by the Regulation (EC) No 810/2009 of The European Parliament and of The Council of 13 July 2009, establishing a Community Code on Visas known as “Visa Code”, Proofof Accommodation is a rule of the visa application procedure that each Schengencountry ought to apply to their foreign visa seekers.

As such, in the Article 14 (1) the “Visa Code” stipulates the following:

“When applying for a uniform visa, the applicant shall present:

•             Documents indicating the purpose of the journey;

•             Documents in relation to accommodation, or proof of sufficient means to cover his accommodation;”

While in the 4th section of the same article the “Visa Code” specifies:

“Member States may require applicants to present a proof of sponsorship and/or private accommodation by completing a form drawn up by each Member State. That form shall indicate in particular:

•             Whether its purpose is proof of sponsorship and/or of accommodation;

•             Whether the host is an individual, a company or an organization;

•             The host’s identity and contact details;

•             The invited applicant(s);

•             The address of the accommodation;”

On the other hand, the Article 21(5) about verification of entry conditions and risk assessment, requires:

“The means of subsistence for the intended stay shall be assessed in accordance with the duration and the purpose of the stay and by reference to average prices in the Member State(s) concerned for board and lodging in budget accommodation, multiplied by the number of days stayed, on the basis of the reference amounts set by the Member States in accordance with Article 34(1)(c) of the Schengen Borders Code. Proof of sponsorship and/or private accommodation may also constitute evidence of sufficient means of subsistence.”

How Do I Have to Confirm My Hotel Booking?

Most important rule, you should be careful checking if your confirmation number is valid. This for the fact that the diplomatic office will do it anyway, and if there can be tracked attempts of fraudulent hotel booking, the staff of the office will refuse your visa application and penalize you further. To avoid this unwanted scenario, you confirm your booking number by direct contactingthe hotel, either through written email or by other means.

Make sure to do this before presenting the hotel booking to the diplomatic office.