Schengen Visa for parents from India

[tulipz]

Hello,
I've been in the UK for over 5yrs now. Currently on ILR. I plan to bring my parents here to visit (6 months) - I'd like to take them on a Europe tour. Due to work committments, we cannot do one long trip. I am planning one trip 7 days and 2-3 short extended weekends.

Anyone here that recently got schengen visa for parents? Would it be possibel to get visas for say 3 months duration ? (assuming their UK visitor visa is for 6 months)

Can anyone please advise re timelines for schegen visitor visa?

Any relevant advise will be gratefully recieved.

Note: ALL of us have Indian passports.

Cheers
Tulipz

[cs95tdg]

I will begin by saying I haven't recently applied for a Schengen visa for parents. But have applied for one myself in January (French consulate), and two other Schengen visas last year (German & Finnish consulates) so may be able to help if you have specific questions.

A couple of questions for you.

1) Do your parents already have a UK visit visa?
Note that most Schengen consulates require that applicants apply for the Schengen visa from their home country, I.e. Country where they are normally resident (I have seen the odd exception to this where a particular consulate accepted an application when the UK visitor held a long length visit visa - but wouldn't rely on this) So if they apply from India then application processing times may differ to those when applying from the UK. If this is their first Schengen visa it is unlikely that they will be issued one with a long validity period, it will most likely be tied to your travel plan that you outline. All my Schengen applications over the last year in the UK were processed in less than a week.

2) You will also need a travel plan, with dates & countries, which tell you what your main destination country will be and what your first port of entry to the Schengen area will be. This is so that you know which Schengen country consulate you should submit your application to.

You'll also probably find the FAQs sticky under this forum useful for basic information.
http://www.immigrationboards.com/europe ... 02396.html

[tulipz]

Thanks for your response CS95tdg

I have a clearer picture of the plan now

They are applying for UK visitor visa first. Once that comes through, they will apply for schengen visas.

Plan: come to UK early June,

9 day Europe trip - end of June - coach tour from london - visiting 5 countries - first port is Paris.

7 day cruise to Norway with my family - End of July

Where do we apply for schengen visa? To France embassy or Norway?

[cs95tdg]

You'll probably find it easier, if you list the number of nights they'll be spending in each country, to figure out which embassy to apply at.

Where do I apply?
1) At the Embassy of the country you plan to visit, usually in your home country or country of usual residence.
2) If you plan to visit multiple Schengen-countries, you have to apply at the Embassy of the country you intend to visit the longest.
3) If you plan to visit several countries equally long, you will have to apply at the Embassy of the country you plan to enter first.

It would probably be easier if their first trip in June consisted of the most nights in a single country, as then you could apply at that embassy with the travel plan for both July & June.

Have they had previous Schengen visas? The reason I ask is because several consulates have told me in the past that they rarely issue multiple entry visas for tourism purposes (when the travel itinerary consists of multiple independent trips), unless the applicant has a proven travel history to the Schengen area (with no overstaying). So there is no guarantee that the embassy they apply at first will grant them a visa to cover both trips.

[tulipz]

Cs95tdg, Thanks again.

Trip1: 9 day star tours trip covering 5 countries. End of June. First port is Belgium. http://www.startours.co.uk/Tour/09-Days ... out-Disney

Trip2 : End of July : 7 day cruise to a Norway. visiting 5 ports.

[cs95tdg]

I can't really comment further as listing the trips alone does not depict the number of nights they will be spending in each country. As suggested in my previous reply, you can take a look at each iternary, work out the number of nights in each country and then apply points 2) & 3) below to establish which embassy to apply at.

Where do I apply?
1) At the Embassy of the country you plan to visit, usually in your home country or country of usual residence.
2) If you plan to visit multiple Schengen-countries, you have to apply at the Embassy of the country you intend to visit the longest.
3) If you plan to visit several countries equally long, you will have to apply at the Embassy of the country you plan to enter first.