Europe is our next destination in summers and since we are Indians, we have to apply visas for every other country in the world we want to visit. Damn Singaporeans who can visit so many awesome places without any visa.:-(
Anyways we have decided to go to following three countries in Europe - Switzerland, Austria and Italy. So the Schengen visa makes sense. Now the trouble is which embassy should you approach if you want to get a visa? So, I did my research and following is the result, which I feel is useful to share.
1. You need to apply to that embassy where you are staying the most number of nights. So, if it is Italy, you need to go and take appointment with Italian Embassy.
2. Visa is strictly by appointment and imagine this - I looked into Italian embassy for appointment on April 16th for my travel on 7th June and they dont have any dates available till 10th June. So, you need to keep track of this and take appointment early. And Italy and Switzerland being more famous tourist attractions than Austria, the dates are taken up fast.
3. You need to also provide hotels stay for all days during your visit to the embassy (among other docs)
4. Swiss embassy has asked me to bring the proof of moving out and entering back to Switzerland (ie, train tickets). I believe that they are doing so to make sure that the person is not lying. But this is very taxing on us to book everything in advance.
5. If you are spending equal nights, then you have to apply to the embassy where you are landing first.
Now imagine this - Somebody who is going to these countries and spends most of the time in Austria, then logically he should apply to Austrian Embassy in Singapore. Austrian embassy has outsourced/collaborated with French embassy. So, we don't visit France at all and go to French embassy to get a visa. Funny. I have not yet got my visa, so update if I find anything useful to share.
Update (22-May-2013)
I got the visa. My wife had to go one week before me and I'll join her after she finishes her business trip. The lady at the visa office made sure that as a couple we are staying more in switzerland than any other country. Luckily we were staying. My wife anyway was going to stay 5 more days than me. But in case if my stay would have less than any other country, then it is possible that she would ask me to go to another embassy, where I'm staying more, and apply individually. So you need to make sure that in a joint application, both you and your partner stay more in switzerland than any other country.
Anyways we have decided to go to following three countries in Europe - Switzerland, Austria and Italy. So the Schengen visa makes sense. Now the trouble is which embassy should you approach if you want to get a visa? So, I did my research and following is the result, which I feel is useful to share.
1. You need to apply to that embassy where you are staying the most number of nights. So, if it is Italy, you need to go and take appointment with Italian Embassy.
2. Visa is strictly by appointment and imagine this - I looked into Italian embassy for appointment on April 16th for my travel on 7th June and they dont have any dates available till 10th June. So, you need to keep track of this and take appointment early. And Italy and Switzerland being more famous tourist attractions than Austria, the dates are taken up fast.
3. You need to also provide hotels stay for all days during your visit to the embassy (among other docs)
4. Swiss embassy has asked me to bring the proof of moving out and entering back to Switzerland (ie, train tickets). I believe that they are doing so to make sure that the person is not lying. But this is very taxing on us to book everything in advance.
5. If you are spending equal nights, then you have to apply to the embassy where you are landing first.
Now imagine this - Somebody who is going to these countries and spends most of the time in Austria, then logically he should apply to Austrian Embassy in Singapore. Austrian embassy has outsourced/collaborated with French embassy. So, we don't visit France at all and go to French embassy to get a visa. Funny. I have not yet got my visa, so update if I find anything useful to share.
Update (22-May-2013)
I got the visa. My wife had to go one week before me and I'll join her after she finishes her business trip. The lady at the visa office made sure that as a couple we are staying more in switzerland than any other country. Luckily we were staying. My wife anyway was going to stay 5 more days than me. But in case if my stay would have less than any other country, then it is possible that she would ask me to go to another embassy, where I'm staying more, and apply individually. So you need to make sure that in a joint application, both you and your partner stay more in switzerland than any other country.
6 comments:
Hi Kapil,
May I know did you pay for the airline ticket, hotel and travel insurance before you got the visa? I am planning to apply for it, but wondering if I can apply using on-hold booking of airline ticket and hotel?
Thank you in advance.
Regards,
Lisa
Hi,
Yes, I had paid for all tickets before applying for visa. Airline, you might get off with the on-hold tickets. But they definitely need the insurance paid upfront for the period. They made me pay for insurance. if you are applying at Swiss embassy, you could also call up and verify. They are responsive.
So, basically you were prepared to travel pending visa approval :)
Maybe, I need to have a leap of faith and be optimist that everything will go smoothly rather than planning the worst case scenario.
One more question: what was the travel insurance you purchased for visa application?
Thank you so much, Kapil.
:)
Yes, I did book all tickets. One thing I did (and always do while planning my travel) was that all my tickets (airlines and hotels) were cancelable. You could book hotels at agoda/hotels.com where you get full refundable booking. The thing that irritated me was that they asked me to reserve my rail seats while going out of Switzerland and coming in. Buying a Euro Rail pass was not enough.
I had looked at DBS travel insurance plan for the period I was traveling. Swiss embassy demanded S$60,000 worth of insurance value. You could also look at AIG, Aviva. Do not recall accurately but I guess I paid ~S$80 to get S$60k of insurance for a period of 15 days.
Hi Kapil. Thanks a lot for sharing. Really appreciate it. Have a great day!
Hi, i am Thomas davidson. I want to apply for Singapore PR. Can you tell me what are the requirements for it. Thanks in advance.
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