Schengen visa delayed, flights missed, what are my rights?

[stalemate]

I applied for a dual entry Schengen visa through Belgium but it's still in process after a month. I missed my flights due to this and want to know what are my rights in terms of financial losses incurred. I already checked with my insurance agent and they are saying I won't be able to claim anything from them.

Any information would be appreciated.

Regards,

S

[stalemate]

Anyone?

[Casa]

I don't believe you have a claim. There is no guarantee in the processing time for a Schengen visa, in fact applications for Spain for example can take 6 weeks in the holiday season. The Belgium consulate appear to cover themselves in the event of a delay with this warning on their website;
Please note that the Belgian Embassy aims to process applications within a maximum period of 15 days of receipt of the application. Provided that a complete file is submitted, a decision can usually be expected much sooner. But, it may take longer in certain cases: between 30 and 60 days (although a decision can usually be expected sooner) when additional documents are requested or if your application has been submitted to the Ministry of the Interior.

[Donutz]

Most likely none since the EU says you should NOT make definitive bookings for flights, accomodation etc. untill the visa has been granted. It's never a requirement to book flights, hotels etc. though reservations will be requested. People should be able to find a company that provides reservations or options on flights/rooms without any charge or for a small fee.

However depending on your application the Belgians may still have been in error.
- Was it a regular application (non EU/EEA family application for instance)? Then the maximum processing times are:

Article 23
Decision on the application
1. Applications shall be decided on within 15 calendar days of the date of the lodging of an application which is admissible in accordance with Article 19.
2. That period may be extended up to a maximum of 30 calendar days in individual cases, notably when further scrutiny of the application is needed or in cases of representation where the authorities of the represented Member State are consulted.
3. Exceptionally, when additional documentation is needed in specific cases, the period may be extended up to a maximum of 60 calendar days.

source: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/wh ... dex_en.htm

So 15 days should be the default processing times, if documents were missing it would have been 30 days, and in exceptional cases 60 days. If anything was missing surely the embassy should or would have contacted you within 15 days?

Or did you use an external service provider (such as VFS or TLS)? Those are entirely optional (article 17 of EU directive 810/2009/EC) but can be a complicating factor: the embassy may send the request for more documents to them and they may forget to notify you... IMHO this is one of many reasons to avoid such agencies. They generally only cost you more money and don't know the rules aswell as the embassies so why use their services unless you see a clear benefit? Note that the embassy should clearly state that an external service provider is optional and that the choice should be a clear and genuine one. See the visa handbook (second one) here for instance.
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/wh ... dex_en.htm

Edit: Casa, holiday season or understaffing is NOT an excuse for longer processing times. They have to stick to 15 days for complete applications, 30 days for incomplete applications and 60 for exceptional applications (when they will ask the immigration department back in the EU country to review this rather complicated case which the embassy isn't able to decide on).

[ban.s]

Most likely none since the EU says you should NOT make definitive bookings for flights, accomodation etc. untill the visa has been granted. It's never a requirement to book flights, hotels etc. though reservations will be requested. People should be able to find a company that provides reservations or options on flights/rooms without any charge or for a small fee.

I am not sure if EU explicitly says NOT to make any definitive booking rather the interpretation of the EU visa code is otherway. For issuance of visa, they normally ask for fully paid accommodation and travel details.
See an example --> http://it.vfsglobal.co.uk/tourist.html
The French embassy used to refuse applications if the accommodations were booked throug booking.com website (as no payment required for booking through that website).

[Donutz]

Indeed when it comes to accomodation it is not very clear:

Visa Code, Annex II, supporting documents:

3. for
(a) documents relating to accommodation:
— confirmation of the booking of an organised trip or any other appropriate document indicating the envisaged travel plans,
— in the case of transit: visa or other entry permit for the third country of destination; tickets for onward journey;

journeys undertaken for the purposes of tourism or for private reasons:
— an invitation from the host if staying with one,
— a document from the establishment providing
accommodation or any other appropriate document indi­ cating the accommodation envisaged;
(b) documents relating to the itinerary:

When it comes to transport though actual tickets should not be required, see page 43 and 47 of the visa handbook:

In general a paid return ticket is not required but can be requested in exceptional circumstances

I have seen several Schengen embassies who explicitly stated to try not to make any final bookings for reservation and accommodation so incase of a denial any financial loss will be kept to a minimum.

If an embassy uses TLS or VFS, see if their info matches any info found at the embassies websites. It does happen that an external party had outdated or incorrect information. Sometimes embassies have had information that contradicted info by that same country elsewhere (MoFA, other embassy) or which was in violation of the EU rules. Examples: asking for too many documents for certain types of applications, for immigrants in the UK: that the residence permit should be valid for atleast 3 months after return (b*** that 3 month validity rule only applies to the travel document: passport) or being vague on the right of direct access (external service parties are optional but some embassies try very hard to get applicants to apply via VFS or TLS).

Edit: checked that VFS link (Italian visa from UK) and some info is wrong or in violation of the EU rules:
- UK Residence permit valid for at least 90 days beyond the return date of the trip (err, no it's not a travel document, this rule only applies to the passport).

- Fully paid return travel tickets (no, see above, only in exceptional cases!).

- Fully booked accommodation reservation (err?)

-Travel insurance (only issued in UK) (no, any travel insurance will do if it meets the requirements do you could also use a good insurance company from say Germany or the home country).

- You can only apply if you are from blabla... (Generally yes but exceptions apply, if it's unreasonable an applicant could apply. For example: a Chinese in the UK for tourist purposes is suddenly required to go to Italy for say a funeral or event, then that Chinese can apply via the Italian representation in the UK. Details are covered in the handbook.

The Italian website itself contains some of the same wrong info.
http://www.consedimburgo.esteri.it/Cons ... in_Italia/

- Full birth certificate and marriage certificate issued outside the UK or outside Schengen countries must be certified by the Embassy/High Commission/Consulate in UK of the Country that issued the certificate and duly translated into English. (lol, no for EU family member applicants they cannot by default require certification by the UK embassy abroad. Directive 2004/38 does not require this, fancy stamps should only be required if they truely doubt it's genuinity, see Schengen handbook for details.)
- 5. Outward and return flight bookings (internet bookings are accepted); (nope, the EU demands evidence of the applicant traveling with the EU national for EU/EAA family member applications. It does not specify transport tickets, a declaration by the EU national should also be sufficient. A booking may be more clear but if you can't get one you cannot be required to show transport reservation).

Far from perfect information by the Italians!!
One could notify the Italians and/or EU commission (Home Affairs) about this so they could correct their errors or misinformation...

[Donutz]

I can only conclude that for normal "tourism" applications:

- a transport reservation is sufficient in most cases.
- a confirmed hotel/hostel/accomodation reservation is sufficient. No were does it state that it does need or does not to be paid or that if it has been payed for that it cannot be refunded easily.

Thus that people could avoid serious costs fir transport or accomodation incase of visa refusal.

[rm1]

I would also like to know the answer to this question.
My partner applied for a visa a month ago, also with the Belgian embassy. At the time we wondered if the processing time would be a bit short so we enquired at the consulate and received assurance in writing that the processing time is 4 weeks maximum and it would be fine to book our tickets to travel on the 4th.
Now it's the 1st and there's still no sign of the visa. I thought this might happen but we were by the consulate assured it wouldn't. If we'd received correct information (ie this visa will take LONGER than 4 weeks) we wouldn't have bothered applying.
Our decision to apply was based on information that we received in writing from the consulate. Now it seems the information given is incorrect and we've spent time and money applying for nothing.
Where is the accountability?